Lost in Lattisway
by The7Strange
Summary: Kyoko seems to have drowned while on set for a job in the ocean. When she wakes up again, she's in an unfamiliar world with magical creatures and no way of knowing how to get home. But wait... Cornn was a fairy prince! She just needs to get to the fairy kingdom, and surely he'll help her get home. With the help of various magical friends, can she make it back home?
1. The Beginning of a Journey

_I do not own "Skip Beat" or its characters._

_I've tumbled an idea like this over in my mind a couple times. I've mentioned in other stories that I feel most comfortable writing things heavily immersed in magic. This is going with the idea that Kyoko gets to go somewhere like that, the world I all but walked in through my own childhood. This is technically traversing the world I write about in my original work, but I'm doing everything I can to keep it from infringing on the actual story as much as possible. It's best not to get your stories tangled up needlessly too much with outside sources (I wonder if it would technically make this a cross-fic? I haven't published it yet though... shrugs). I hope that you all enjoy the little peek into my world. Let me know your impressions, and I'll do my best to get Kyoko back home by the end of this tale. I wonder how it'll turn out._

_As always, enjoy._

* * *

**_It's dark._**

Kyoko could feel herself sinking, her body weak and barely able to hold her focus through hazy eyes as something tugged her down. Deeper. Deeper. It was so dark under the water.

**_It hurts._**

The water pressure was too much, squeezing her body, pressing down on her and disturbing what little brain activity she had left.

**_Tsuruga-san._**

Her hand reached in the direction she assumed to be the surface. Was that up? She wasn't sure anymore. Her eyes stung, but she couldn't tell if she successfully produced tears or not. She was surrounded by water already after all. Perhaps the ocean was created by tears. It would explain all the salt, right? Maybe it was the tears of mermaids. That would mean she contributed to something magical, right? It wasn't so bad when she thought about it that way. Quietly, she found herself embracing that thought. The darkness embraced her completely.

.

.

* * *

.

Ren felt uneasy as soon as he noticed Yashiro hang up the phone, his body quivering ever so slightly. Going over to inquire about the call, his heart dropped as Yashiro looked over to him quickly, eyes wide and watering and face far too pale.

"What is it?" Ren asked worriedly. Yashiro averted his gaze, but he knew it would come to light sooner or later. At least they had just finished work for the day. There was no telling how Ren would take this news.

"It... It's Kyoko-chan. She was filming. They... they're not sure what happened, but suddenly she just went under water. They haven't been able to find her. They say it's likely that she got pulled under by a current or something."

"What do you mean they don't know what happened?"

"Ren-"

"How can they not know what happened to their own actress put under their care? What kind of irresponsible and incompetent people...?" The actor's fists clenched tightly at his side before he stormed over to his bag, fishing out his phone. It couldn't be. It had to be a trick. She couldn't disappear just like that!

* * *

**_Burn_**

Kyoko coughed and hacked, feeling liquid pour from her mouth. She blinked her eyes open, letting them adjust to the bright and blurry world around her before focusing on what she had just spit up. Relief poured over her as she found it to be clear instead of red. No blood in her lungs. At least that was a relief. Her throat burned and her whole body ached, especially her head.

"~~~^~vv~~^^V~. ^~~v^!~v^~~^!" What is that? Talking? She rolled to look in the direction of the sounds, blinking through blurry eyes and a pounding headache. The first thing she noticed that she was no longer at the ocean. It looked like there were trees all around as she lay on the warm earth of a shoreline. She pushed her mind into action, taking in her surroundings. Trees. Grass. Bushes. Flowers. Water, with more trees and land beyond it. A lake? How did she end up in a lake from the ocean? _'Focus.'_ She searched for the voice she heard again, finding someone close by her at the water's edge, a young man without a shirt and strangely pointed ears. Elf? Fairy? Demon? Sparkling hair like beams of light, mossy green eyes. Corn? Was it possible? Was she in the fairy realm? She wanted to call out to him, but she was so weak. She couldn't move. Her body and throat burned. All she could do was cry in stilted sobs. She felt so helpless.

"~^~~vv-~~^^" the fae spoke, his tone pitching upward in the end, possibly in a question. He was talking in a soft and smooth tone, but Kyoko couldn't understand him one bit. It must be some other fairy. Corn would have talked to her in her own language without a second thought.

"I'm sorry," She choked out between sniffles as her body shook beyond her control, wishing she could move to hide her pitiful appearance, "I'm sorry but I can't understand you." She hiccuped and sobbed pathetically. '_Tsuruga-san.'_ She found herself wishing he could be here with her. A capable person like him could probably figure out what to do. If he was here, she would feel so much more secure in a strange land full of demons and who knew what else? Corn might have been a better choice, she realized once she gave it a second thought, but the desire to have her senpai there wouldn't waiver.

"Mage. Yes?" Kyoko blinked through shaky breaths as she heard her language spoken somewhat choppily. Her tears calmed as she looked up to the boy demon. She noticed now that his pale blond hair was long and unruly, a short ponytail tied at the base of his neck with metal pegs dangling from it decoratively. Just above his ears were stiff wiry hairs that seemed to shift about occasionally. Wide black pupils shrunk from light exposure, baring onto her as he slid out of the water to sit on the bank beside her, a shiny scaled tail of ivory trailing back into the lake under him. _'Mermaid!'_ Kyoko realized with wonder. No, before that he had known her language. Well..., perhaps that was to be expected of someone that could traverse such great lengths between waters.

"You speak Japanese?" She asked him hopefully. The boy frowned and considered her words for a moment. Perhaps she should have talked a little slower. He seemed to only have a small grasp of the basics of the language.

"Many languages. Requirement of duty." Duty? Requirement? Maybe this wouldn't work out so well after all. The mer-boy contemplated something for a moment before reaching out and slowly urged her into sitting up. Her body ached and burned, causing her breaths to come out short and fast as she shivered and pushed through to do as the mermaid prompted. "Pain recedes. Need time. Movement helps." He explained in clipped sentences. Kyoko gasped and nodded quietly as her vision swam and her stomach tumbled unpleasantly. "Water beasts. Very dangerous. Foolish girl." Kyoko felt herself stiffen in agitation. Why was she being insulted all of a sudden?

"Are you saying this is my fault? I was minding my own business, doing my job!" She rounded on him and the mermaid jerked backward from her, mossy green eyes widened in shock as his hands snapped up as if to hold her rolling anger back from him. She only gave a brief glance to the little bit of extra webbing between his fingers, not quite reaching his second knuckle, and his nails were a little more claw-like than a human's. His skin glistened with a slight ivory shine, looking almost oily. 'Like a fish... I suppose that makes sense.' She thought with an unhappy frown.

"Apologize. Misunderstanding. Unwit-... unwit-... not intention." He frowned as he tried to come up with he words needed, eventually going in a vague and barely acceptable phrasing instead when the proper vocabulary escaped him.

"Exactly! It was a misunderstanding! Now that that is cleared up... how did I get here? This doesn't look like Japan." She asked as she started to look around her surroundings again. The mermaid looked a bit uncertain, then surprised, then uncomfortable and disturbed.

"Magic. Water holds very well. Unstable. Not... your world."

"So I'm really in the fairy kingdom then?" Kyoko rounded back on the boy, startling him as he inches backward on the lake edge, hands waving about as he shook his head in the negative.

"Fae. Far. Not really, though. Er..." he considered his words for a moment before his eyes flicked to something behind her and grew impossibly large. What little color was in his face seemed to tint blue before he sprung away backwards, doing a back-flip into the air and diving headfirst into the water at lightening speed. Kyoko felt a chill as she realized that reaction could only mean bad news. Snapping to look behind her, she saw what looked like an angry current of wind in the vague shape of a human form, leaves and grass and little clumps of dirt buzzing like a swarm of viscous bugs within the shape. It was coming right at her, and she felt frozen with her fear and lingering fatigue as it descended upon her, Kyoko's own heart beating erratically with adrenaline as the figure swooped right up to her before pausing. She could almost swear she saw a face within the buzzing pieces of nature. It turned this way and that, taking in her appearance before the buzzing slowly faded, and then the pieces of nature fell silent and still before her, littering the ground in a motionless heap. Kyoko felt herself release a breath she couldn't recall sucking, let alone holding, quickly scooting away from the pile of nature in case it decided to kick back up again.

"What... What was that?" She gasped out, finally feeling function in her limbs again as she rose a shaky hand to clutch over her heart. She heard a soft splash and whipped her head around to glare at the top half of a blond boy's face. "What was that?" She repeated, this time in demand for answers. Timidly, the mermaid glided back toward her, though only barely raised his head enough to reveal his mouth to answer her.

"Nature spirit. Mother's soldiers. Balance. Order. Dangerous."

"And you just abandoned me to fend for myself?" Kyoko screeched indignantly. The mermaid flinched backward before rising with a vengeance, his body seeming to be boosted upward by he water in a show of power as he glared down at her.

"Cannot... Er... ah! Cannot defy Mother! Order! Balance! Mother!" Kyoko frowned disapprovingly as she crossed her arms.

"You can't defy your mother, huh? Not even at the risk of an innocent life!" The mermaid only seemed put off, rolling his eyes as he flung his arms about the area wildly.

"Mo. Eth .ER!" He pronounced the syllables insistently. "Celestial! God! Powerful! Mother! Nature Mother!" He insisted. Kyoko fell silent as her mouth fell open.

"Mother Nature?" Her squeak seemed to please the mermaid, a firm nod and a tiny smile tugging at his lips as he crossed his arms authoritatively. "Mother Nature is out to get me?" His tiny smile fell before he started gesturing wildly again.

"Disturbance. Investigate... far from home? Pulled here?" She supposed he must be asking about what had brought her here, the suspicion likely being that had been what attracted one of Mother Nature's very own soldiers to come investigate the area... and her. "You left alone. Not an issue." He waved his hand at her in a shoeing motion, causing Kyoko to frown and fidget uncomfortably in her clingy soggy clothes. Now that the danger had seemingly passed, she was quickly becoming hyper aware of how uncomfortable wet clothes could be.

"Well, how do I get back home? How did I even get here?" She could feel a slight bite in her tone, but the mermaid didn't seem bothered by it, swimming over gracefully and settling back on the bank of the lake.

"Magic in water. Very unstable. Unpredictable. Gates form and deform often." He explained with a simple wave of his hand. Dread settled in her gut at this news.

"I'm going to guess that I can't go back the way I came." She stated carefully. The mermaid actually looked apologetic as he shook his head, then smiled reassuringly.

"Other gates. Sturdy. Consistent."

"Okay, where can I find one of those?" He dropped again in uncertainty, looking away from her with a hint of shame.

"Not here. Not duty of mine. Er..." he paused to think of his words again. "I fight. I regulate. Heavy magic flow these waters." He explained, sweeping a hand back to the expanse of the lake. He only knew if the gates, but there wasn't a lot of expertise due to his lack of need for knowledge on them in his territory. Kyoko frowned and looked down at her dripping clothes pitifully. She was lost in some strange land, by herself, with no one she could... Kyoko's head snapped up as realization struck her. This was a magic world! She had just been dragged into the magical waters of this world by some... water beast, and then fished out by a mermaid! Surely there were fairies! Surely her fairy prince would be here and could help her get back home! She looked to the mermaid with determination and ferocity, the boy shrinking away from her wearily in response to her quick and jerky movements.

"Where can I find fairies? I need to speak to the King! No, the prince! I need to speak with prince Cornn!" She urged. Silence stretched between them as Kyoko waited eagerly for his response, but the mer-boy only looked startled, confused, and uneasy. "I'm a childhood friend of the fairy prince Cornn! Do you know where the fairy capital is?" She insisted. The mermaid slowly turned to look where a river mouth fed into the lake. Pointing in that direction, he looked to her wearily.

"Getan Fairy city. Er-"

"Alright, a fairy city. It's just up the river?" She asked eagerly. The mermaid twisted his face in an uncertain frown as he nodded.

"Closed off race. Not very welcoming." He explained slowly. Kyoko didn't mind it. If she was right that Cornn was there, everything could easily be fixed. She started off eagerly, doing all she could to ignore the way her soaked clothes felt like they were coiling around her. Moving around would also help her dry off as she went.

The mermaid was following her up the river. She wasn't sure what to make of his attention. He had been somewhat helpful so far, but was there any need to follow her? She was uncomfortable in her clothes, weary of her stalker, her muscles ached, her head was pounding, and her stomach was simultaneously twisting into knots while biting at her for food.

"Day long swim." She snapped her head to face in the direction of the mermaid clinging to the root of a massive tree on the river edge. He was staring up at her with concern, and she wondered what made him care so suddenly. "Three day walk." He spoke as their eyes connected, and Kyoko blanched as that information set in. Three days? Her stomach growled loudly in protest and the silver-grey eyes of the mermaid flicked down worriedly, as if he were afraid something would burst out from her stomach. Kyoko flushed in embarrassment as she hugged her middle. Water rose up and seemed to deposit the mermaid onto wet land as he looked around their immediate area. He seemed to find what he was looking for, pointing to a nearby tree with small round fruits, most being soft pink in color, while others still looked fairly green and unripe. "Food. Watch for bugs and thorns. Make camp. I return with protein." He stated before diving back into the river. Kyoko frowned lightly after him. Protein? As in meat? Was he getting fish? Cannibalism?!

Even if he was offering his kin to her for sustenance, Kyoko knew it would benefit her to accept, even if it made her feel uneasy. She wouldn't get far if she didn't get proper nutrition, and apparently she had a three-day trek ahead of her. She would need to make sure to repay the favor somehow. It would be no good to be in debt to a magical being.

.

.

* * *

.

Kyoko barely managed to get a camp set up, though she could hardly say she was the one to accomplish it. She gathered all the kindling and firewood, only to be instructed on how to clear an area and set up the fire by her strange new friend. Who would have thought that a water creature could be so knowledgeable on how to construct a camp fire?

After the construction, she was faced with a new dilemma, getting the actual fire going. She made an absolute fool of herself, trying to make a fire by rolling the end of one stick into another. Wasn't this how it was supposed to work? The heat of the friction was supposed to start embers then burst into flames?

"Why not use magic?" The mermaid asked her, looking at her oddly.

"The most I can accomplish is curse dolls." Kyoko huffed with a frown at her still cold and unlit pile of sticks. Night was closing in fast as the sun dipped below the tree line. Forests grew dark so quickly, Kyoko realized. The mer-boy gave her an odd look.

"Corrupted magic? Dark magic? Both with simple easy ways start fires. You neglect studies, huh?" He asked her somewhat accusingly.

"What makes you think I know magic? I barely know curses!"

"You a mage! What kind a mage only knows curses?" He retorted with an exasperated throw of his hands in the air.

"I'm not a mage!" Kyoko defended with a huff. The mermaid fell silent as he looked to her skeptically. "I'm from the human world. I'm human!" Realization flashed in his eyes as he studied her, silver-green eyes shining slightly in the darkening light of the forest, flicking up over her form.

"Mage blood. Unaware." He hummed lightly before scooting closer, the dirt and grass rustling as he pushed himself around on dry land. Kyoko watched him with concern as he rearranged her sticks and started working on the fire with a ferocity that she couldn't really call human. She watched as he pulled the tie out of his hair and rubbed the edge of a metal tag down the length of a metal peg, creating sparks. Her eyes widened with wonder as the kindling caught fire and soon spread to the small twigs, then the sticks and dead branches as he tossed them in.

"You had a fire starter this whole time?" Kyoko asked, clearly frustrated and annoyed as the mermaid tied the strange accessory back into his hair.

"Mine. Not its intended purpose. Still works. Be thankful I help." He huffed and turned to grab a fish. Kyoko pouted and grumbled out a short word of gratitude, not quite sure what to make of his startled expression and the subtle twitch of his ears. Did he really think she wouldn't say her thanks? Kyoko pulled back in shock and disgust as the mermaid simply chomped down into the raw and unprepared fish. Blood dribbled down his chin and the crunching! She was almost sick just from seeing such a thing.

"You... eat fish?" She asked through her woozie state, focusing on getting her own fish cooking instead. That got her another odd look from her companion.

"What else I eat? Protein important. Fish good for protein."

"But it's fish! And... and _you're_ a fish!" She exclaimed. One of his eyebrows raised at her, as if she were rambling nonsense.

"Fish eat fish. Natural. Also, not a fish." He huffed as he pointed to himself and rolled his eyes. Right. Mermaid. Whatever. "Herkan."

"A what now?" She snapped her mouth shut with a click as he looked at her again, his eyes squinting lightly as he licked the blood off his lips. Oh..., was that an extra pair of canines tucked behind the first? They didn't look sharp like a shark's, but still threatening and able to do some damage.

"Not mermaid either. Humans ignorant stupid. I am herkan. Not cursed being mermaid." Kyoko stared quietly for a moment as she processed this. Mermaids were cursed beings? And...

"What's a herkan? And how are they different from mermaids?" She asked, feeling a bit giddy to learn about the different kinds of fae. The herkan looked unhappy, perhaps insulted as he looked over her before he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Mermaids cursed mages, drowned by humans for magic. Pitiful existence. Herkans created by mother. Purpose to watch over magic water. Feed on water beasts. Apex predators." Kyoko went pale as she absorbed that information. If he fed on whatever dangerous beast pulled her into this world, wouldn't that make him even more dangerous?

"Are there... a lot of those water beasts?" Kyoko asked softly, poking at the sizzling fish on the fire.

"Not a lot. Decent amount. Most in bigger water bodies. Uncommon in this area." It only reassured Kyoko a little. She probably wouldn't ever see oceans and lakes the same way again. She supposed that was a given after nearly drowning, though.

Silence stretched between them as she finished cooking her fish, using some of the sour-sweet fruit from the tree to add a little extra flavor. The mermaid -or... herkan she supposed- watched her with interest, looking down at his half-eaten bloody raw fish. Kyoko giggled as she held out her work.

"There are a couple others left, if you want this one." She offered. "Consider it my thanks for saving my life and helping me out." His hesitancy turned to eagerness nearly instantly, accepting the fish and chomping into it with vigor. The fins on his tail and hips flared out as he wiggles about, the dirt and grass under him making scraping sounds that had Kyoko cringing. "Is it okay for you to be up on dry land like this?" She asked worriedly as she prepared the other two fish. The herkan nodded and took a bite out of the head of the fish he was eating. Kyoko tried not to show her distaste.

"Uncomfortable. Too hot. Dry. Not deadly though, as long as I keep moisture close." He shrugged and waved his hand to show he could draw droplets of water to his body before taking another hefty bite into his cooked fish. He seemed to be enjoying the food at least.

"So... herkan, can I ask you something?"

"Name Diss. Ask what you like." Kyoko stares at him, quietly telling herself not to make any comment on the strange name. The fairy prince was named 'Corn' after all. Diz wasn't too odd in comparison, right?

"Alright, Diz"

"Diss!"

"Er... Di~ss" she stretched it out awkwardly, gaining an eye roll from the fae. "Can I ask why you're helping me? I imagine saving me is just a result of you taking care of the water beast, but you're even coming with me to the fairy kingdom." She pointed out. The herkan looked a bit troubled as he nibbled quietly on one of the fins of his fish. Letting out a sigh, he looked in the direction they've been traveling, toward where the fairy kingdom should be she supposed.

"Many changes. Kingdom... not anymore. Herkans have old bonds with dark and water mages." She decidedly ignored the bit about mages for the time being. The part about the kingdom sounded worrying. Kyoko frowned as she considered his choppy sentences. She was having to make a lot of assumptions due to his minimal vocabulary.

"The fairy kingdom is gone?" What about Cornn? The king and queen! What happened?

"Changed. Royals abandoned. Bitterness. Strained relations with _belino_ birds." Kyoko frowned in confusion. That hardly made any sense at all. it sounded like there wasn't a bunch or ruins in place of the kingdom, though. "Will not find prince Kuon there." Her eyes snapped up to Diss, wide and searching as he stared down and fiddled with his tail. "Cast aside. Mixed heritage. Left. Happier away from shallow _getan_ fairies."

"You're following me because you think I'm making a mistake."

"Like lamb in lions' den. Old ancestor bonds. Can't leave without warning first." He sighed. Kyoko fidgeted as she nibbled at her food. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't have ties to any other magical creatures, as far as she knew anyway. Apparently she had some magic heritage somewhere, though she couldn't even begin to figure out how this boy could tell. He seemed pretty confident about it, almost insistently so. "Also, helpless like baby. Bad karma sending out on own." Kyoko felt her jaw clench lightly in annoyance but tried to control her anger. _'Tsuruga-san would give one of those smiles, if it were him.'_ she noted quietly, forcing her lips into a pleasant grin as her eyes squinted shut.

"I see. Thank you for your concern." she stated slowly. This was hard, smiling through her anger. She felt so offended, but it would be no good to respond with animosity to all the herkan had done to help her. "I think I will be okay from this point on. The city is only a couple days walk from this point, right? I don't want to make you feel like I'm your responsibility or something." The green-eyed boy assessed her for a moment before giving a slow nod of understanding. Reaching up, he pulled the little tangle of metal pegs from his hair and held it out to her. Kyoko accepted it quietly, looking up to the boy with confusion.

"Even when you say you fine, not sitting well in me. Take care, dark mage. Not show weakness in front fairies." he gave a quick final warning before scooting back toward the water. Kyoko got up and came over to his side, gazing down and watching as he paused to look back up to her.

"At least let me repay you by taking you back to the water." she offered. It was a bit strange to see such a mature-looking boy reach up to her like Maria did when asking to be picked up. She pushed the thought away as she squatted down and lifted the herkan. He was fairly heavy. Kyoko wasn't sure if she should be so surprised. His tail was so long that the tail-fins still brushed the ground as she waddled over to the water and tossed him into the river. His head popped up again a second later, gazing up at her as he easily swam against the water's current.

"Stay safe, little dark mage." he called after her, seeming to still be a bit worried. Kyoko waved as she headed back to her little camp. She needed to get a decent nights sleep if she wanted to make as much progress as she wanted tomorrow.

.

.

* * *

_Well, that's that. Let me know your thoughts and impressions if you like, even if it's that you hate it. I'll be cut off from the world for a couple weeks, but I promise to see you all soon._


	2. When to Fight and When to Accept

_I'm back in the real world and already missing the peace of nature, even though we got super flooded hahahaha. My little vacation helped me with immersing myself while writing this and I really hope it shows._

_Kyoko thought she drowned during a filming shoot in the ocean. When she came to, she found herself stranded in a strange world, saved by a mermaid-like creature. Desperate to get home, she attempts to make her way toward the closest fairy city and hopefully get into contact with Prince Corn._

_enjoy_

* * *

Yashiro watched Ren with silent worry. After the actor had calmed down a bit from the initial shock of loosing Kyoko, the man had gone incredibly quiet. He still worked through all his jobs, refusing to stop, but the manager was worried.

"Ren, maybe we should take a break. I can cancel the interview this afternoon, and we can tell the studio tonight-"

"I'm fine, Yukihito-san." Ren spoke soft and gruff but firm, allowing no room for argument. The manager adjusted his glasses nervously. There must be something he could do. Ren's health could very well be in danger if he continued to work himself so hard, and his appetite seemed to be even smaller than usual. The more Yashiro tried to press him to eat, the less the man was willing to listen. Should he talk to Lory? He really wished that Kyoko was still here. He looked down at the schedule on his phone, changing to the news. There was still no sign of her body. He held a sigh in his chest, opting to release it slowly and quietly to keep from alerting Ren to his current state. The actor seemed to be simultaneously terribly distracted and highly alert today. One little sigh and Yashiro could see renewed tension fill his charge, as if every little sigh was a reminder of their lost friend.

The manager quickly put his phone away and focused on Ren as a means to not dwell on it as much. He wished he could provide words of comfort, tell the younger man that he missed her too, that it still didn't feel real, but... it never felt like a good time to bring it up. He didn't want to risk doing anything that snapped the remaining sanity there. He could already see that Ren was grasping at straws. He needed to let him mourn in his own way before attempting any confrontation.

* * *

Kyoko rolled her head and shoulders around, trying to get out all the kinks that had formed from sleeping on the hard forest floor. The soil had been soft and comfortable initially, but it quickly grew too stiff as she tried to sleep. She sighed as she trudged along the dirt road still, scratching at bug bites and desperately wishing for shoes. Her feet easily felt every little pebble and stick, causing her to shift her feet about slowly to walk in delicate quiet steps. She felt a little proud when she noticed how quietly she walked like this.

The path she had stumbled upon followed paralleled to the river, just a short walk away and the water still fairly audible. The road looked to get a little traffic, though she hadn't seen any travelers yet. At least her clothes were fully dry now, and the fire she had made with Diss kept her warm enough through most of the night so she was feeling fairly healthy. It was a little sad to kick the dirt all over her embers, and incredibly nerve-wracking to relieve herself on it, but the herkan Diss had been insistent on proper fire habits, and she didn't have a way to get water to the little makeshift camp. She was a bit worried about her lack of water supply, but she was hoping that the natural waters in the fruits she was eating would be enough to get her by until she reached civilization.

Kyoko observed the plant-life of the world as she walked. It was so dense and extensive in every direction she looked, massive trees, curling vines, and flowers in all kinds of shapes and colors. She was weary of touching anything for fear of poisonous plants or unknown dangers, but she was happy to enjoy looking.

The girl bit into one of the fruits she had grabbed before The start of her journey, a couple more cradled in her gown as she held up a section to make a little pocket. She didn't particularly enjoy the semi-sour fruit by itself, but she needed something to sustain her. She had no way to hunt for meat, she had no way of knowing how safe the river water was to drink, and she knew nothing of the other plant life to confidently pick something that could potentially be poisonous or even deadly. She would keep an eye open for any fruits she came across that had other animals eating them, but there was no guarantee that she would find anything, let alone that an animal would be eating it at the time she was passing. She couldn't afford to waste time waiting around a bush or tree just to find out if it was edible or not either. Her best chance was to push on with what she had and reach the fairy kingdom tomorrow night. They would have food and water there. After that, it would simply be a matter of finding a way to exchange services for currency or goods. She could cook or clean or do some manual labor and the like. There was sure to be somewhere she could work. Worst case, she would have to make all kinds of hand gestures to explain herself through the language barrier, and if she still couldn't find work... she might have to resort to stealing from a garden or farm. A large city was bound to have a few of those around the outskirts, especially in a world where the roads looked so underdeveloped.

Kyoko was hesitant and uneasy as she discarded the tough stringy core of the fruit. It felt wrong to just drop it off the side of the road, and she even held onto it for what she assumed was probably a couple hours or so, but she knew that it was senseless to hold onto it as she continued on. She would not find a trash can out in the middle of a magical wilderness. She finally decided it was a good place to leave it when she crossed a tree with something similar to pine-cones littering the ground around it. She placed the core of her fruit carefully at the base of the tree, on the opposite side of the trunk facing the dirt path. Nature would take it from here, feeding maybe some small creatures or bugs and the like.

When she turned to walk back to the road, she froze. _'Where did the path go? It was in this direction, right?'_ She took a few steps in the direction she believed to be the path, but paused again as doubt crept in. What if that was wrong? What if she was going the opposite direction? What if the forest itself was a maze? She perked up as she heard the faint splash of water and bolted in that direction. The river was a definite constant, and she would be able to continue upstream without worry of going the wrong way. She could almost swear she heard tiny cackles of laughter as she left the tree behind, but was too worried about loosing her way again to look back and check for its source.

Kyoko heaved out a sigh of relief as the water came into view, the girl freezing as she heard a violent splash and the flash of something blue glinting in the corner of her eye. Turning slowly, she relaxed as she saw it was a girl, her sapphire fishy tail and the top of her face peeking out from behind a massive rock, dark grey eyes peering intently.

"Oh! S-sorry if I startled you." Kyoko apologized quickly. The girl came out a bit more from her bolder, big eyes fluttering slowly in a way that Kyoko couldn't help but find beautiful. "Wow..." she breathed in disbelief. Mermaids, or Herkans she supposed, truly were stunning creatures. Dis had a kind of beauty to him, but it was nothing compared to the female before her now. "Er... I don't want to bother you too much, but could you perhaps tell me how far I am from the Fairy Kingdom? Er... the... Gettan Fairies I think they were called?" Kyoko asked, hoping that she might be making good time. She liked to think she had been pacing herself well.

The lady tilted her head and came out from her hiding spot completely, slowly gliding up to the bank Kyoko was standing at. Her big grey eyes blinked slowly again as she raised a hand out of the water, reaching out carefully. Confused, Kyoko started to reach back but hesitated. It felt... wrong. Why was she reaching out? Was she accepting something? Was it a greeting? Dis had been quite different, and somehow it felt wrong for the female herkan to act so increasingly different.

Like a veil falling from her vision, the beautiful girl before her shifted into something barely human. Her nose was almost snakelike, flaring out as the creature breathed in heaving gasps.

Sharp teeth lined her wide mouth and black, black eyes bore into her like she was staring into two camera lenses.

Kyoko's breath caught as she stumbled backward quickly, the creature hissing angrily as it used its clawed hands to crawl toward her, long tail whipping about behind it. It was like a big beastly snake with arms, and Kyoko actually feared it might lunge at her at any moment. With a deep inhale, she forced out a scream, quickly refilling her lungs before trying again, screaming as loud as she could manage. The creature flinched back at the sound, hissing again in anger and irritation.

_**"Shhhhut up! Sstupid gerrrl!"**_ It growled, reaching and gabbing Kyoko by the ankle. The place where it touched burned and Kyoko cried out in pain, desperately kicking and jerking her leg in an attempt to get away. She felt a little satisfied when her heal connected with its face, a small crunch sounding and making it recoil with a groan of pain. Kyoko readied herself as she anticipated another attack, but then there was a crash behind her and something that sounded distinctly like... the battle cry of a child?

Whizzing past her at a speed that she barely comprehended, a young boy rammed straight into the creature with a spear in his hand that buried deep into the flesh of the angry monster. It screeched and hissed as the boy -looking to be maybe a pre-teen- twisted his weapon, pulled it out, then speared it in the throat. The body went limp and the boy backed up a few steps, his weapon pinning its prey into the soft dirt of he river bank. Kyoko panted heavily as she tried to process the sight, her adrenaline pumping as she took in the details of her savior. Copper hair, cut short and somewhat messily, maybe done with dull scissors or something not meant for cutting hair. Steel grey eyes, flicking about her form with obvious confusion. Dirty clothes and smudges of mud and grime. Big imposing wings sprouting from his back with copper-colored feathers, the tips breaking into a brilliant white.

"Are... are you my guardian angel?" Kyoko asked, feeling oh so relieved to be free from the vicious creature now speared to the ground. The boy gave her a look that clearly stated he believed her crazy.

"Angel? I didn't know anyone still-"

"Benny! What did we say about proper procedure...s?" A woman bust into the clearing next, trailing off as she found Kyoko and the boy. She had snow white wings and dirty blond hair that swung about in dozens of tiny braids around her waist.

"It's not my fault you're slow." The boy remarked snakily as he pulled his spear out of the dead monster, going over and rinsing it in the river. The white angel did not look amused, marching over and trying to grab the boy, only to be evaded as Benny ducked and zipped to the other side of the young woman. Kyoko glanced between the two a few times as they squabbled about procedures and how Benny wasn't experienced enough to go off on his own. More footsteps could be heard and Kyoko whipped her head around to find three more of the winged people touching down, two boys and another woman. The one at the front straightened and Kyoko's eyes widened as she almost swore she was seeing Cain Heel before her. Glistening dark hair hung messily about his face as black irises roamed over the area, seeming to take everything in before he made another move. In his hand was a large sword. At his back were massive midnight wings. It wasn't until Kyoko looked more in depth that she started spotting all the little differences between his body and Tsuruga Ren. Even so, she never thought she would find someone so similar in structure to her senpai. _'Must be the fairy magic.'_ She realized with awe. That pretty much confirmed it. Tauruga Ren must really have fairy blood in his ancestry.

"Bernard," the man spoke gruffly, his tone leaving no room for question, "if you want to join the battle, you have to follow procedures." The boy gave a subdued bow in response as the man turned to Kyoko, looking down at her with a disapproving frown. It was oddly reminiscent of her original rivalry with Tsuruga-san. "You, what are you doing here?" He demanded. Kyoko flinched back slightly at the forceful tone but quickly tried to answer as she stood up.

"S-sorry! My name is Mogami Kyoko. I was just trying to-" she gasped and stumbled as her leg refused to hold her up, stumbling forward and falling into the tall man. He caught her, but she could instantly feel his anger and irritation rising, confirmed easily just by peeking up at him. He gazed down at her with a deep scowl, his eyes almost seeming to burn with his displeasure.

She gasped as she was shoved back into the arms of the girl with the white wings, slowly being set back on the ground before the woman lifted the bottom of her skirt, exposing her ankles and the angry marking left there from the earlier monster's grip. The white angel looked to her quickly, her brow lowered in seriousness.

"Did the water maiden do this?" She asked, sounding urgent. Kyoko couldn't seem to find her words, opting to nod quickly. The woman huffed in annoyance as she walked over, tugging the tangly dark hair of the corpse to lift it's lifeless head. Kyoko had to look away as the woman cut out its tongue, only for her to return with the muscle as it dripped with blood. Before Kyoko could object or demand to know what the woman was doing, the tongue was pressed to the mark and smeared around the entirety of it and then some.

"That should break down the poison. You'll need to rest for full recovery." The woman informed before standing up and tossing the piece of tongue away.

"I'll ask again," the man spoke up as he stepped directly into Kyoko's line of sight, "what are you doing here? Why are you traveling alone?" He demanded. The other four winged people fell silent as they put a bit of space between them.

"Blak, she's probably not a vampire. She wouldn't have been effected by the poison if she was." One of the other men spoke up. The black angel raised one hand for silence as his other went to grip the hilt of the sword at his side again.

"It doesn't matter. People don't travel these lands alone for no reason. What are you doing here? I won't ask again."

"I... I was stranded here!" She burst out quickly, her heart hammering away. A delicate hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to see the second girl gazing at her worriedly, dark blue eyes flicking about worriedly.

"You need to calm down. Too much excitement is bad after exposure to the water maiden's poison." She explained softly before turning back to the man. There seemed to be a silent communication between them before he finally stepped back and crossed his arms defensively. The girl turned back to Kyoko with a gentle smile. "You said you were stranded. Could you perhaps explain what happened?" She requested in that soft soothing voice of hers. Kyoko gave a timid nod of agreement before quickly trying to explain how she was from a world inhabited by humans, that she was filming a kind of story in the ocean for one of her jobs when she was pulled down suddenly. When she came to again, she was on the shore of a lake in this strange land, saved by a herkan by the name of Diss, and how she figured the best course of action would be to get to civilization and seek help from anyone that might know anything about how to get her home again.

"I need to get to the fairy kingdom," She pressed desperately, "its my best chance of getting home."

"You won't find help there." The man, Blak, spoke up. Kyoko looked to him, not sure if she trusted the harsh man. "Don't look at me like that. Those people are not the generous type. They do not care for the weak, especially the weak that are not one of their own."

"That's not true!" Kyoko denied vehemently. Blak paused as he eyed Kyoko, clearly looking down on her with his chin raised up indignantly. "I might be new to this world, but I know that they are good people. Prince Corn was my friend, and I'm sure-" Kyoko was cut off by the man jerking with a cough, seemingly surprised at the name. Kyoko rose her own chin with pride and authority, pleased to have made a chink in the man's defenses. He probably thought she was just spouting nonsense like some stupid girl. It felt good to prove the stuck-up man wrong.

"Prince Kuon was cast out years ago, along with the king and queen." The man choked out. Kyoko blinked with bewilderment. Diss had mentioned there were problems with the fairy kingdom, but she hadn't been able to really understand him well. She somewhat understood before that Cornn had maybe had problems and left, but cast out? The king and queen as well?

"What... what did he do?" She asked slowly, remembering the curse that she had helped him lift in Guam. Blak seemed to contemplate answering her for a moment before he gave a light shrug and looked away.

"He existed."

"I... I don't understand." She admitted softly. The man sighed and looked to the 'water maiden' still laying lifeless on the bank, then at his teammates standing around watching the exchange.

"What are you all idling for? Ratta, show Bernard how to process the water maiden. Traisa, Don, back to scouting the area." he ordered quickly. The angels quickly kicked into motion, the girl at Kyoko's side going over and pulling out a sizable knife before starting to instruct the young boy in how to harvest a water maiden without having any direct contact with the poison glands on their skin. Kyoko turned away quickly as the knife was plunged into the flesh as though it were a completely normal thing to do. Even if it was a monster, it was human enough to give Kyoko an uneasy feeling at seeing it butchered like that.

"You claim you were friends with Kuon, but do you know what happens when a fairy and a bird-type have offspring together?" Kyoko looked up to see the black angel addressing her, a deep frown marring his features.

"I... no?" She spoke uneasily. The man didn't seem surprised at her answer, looking away with a soft sigh.

"They end up with crystal feathers. Do you know anything about what that means?" He asked, peeking back at her. Kyoko tried to imagine what that would look like. It sounded quite magical and pretty, even if it showed any of the stubby wing underneath that she knew birds had.

"It sounds magical." She decided.

"It's considered a bad omen." She blinked a few times as she looked back to the man, feeling a bit confused. "It is said that death once had brilliant crystal wings, every feather perfect and beautiful, slowly torn and tattered over time by violent and obstinate souls he guided. It is also said that his ward, the Angel, was granted his remaining feathers in order to restore her own damaged wings when he took her in, that only death and his servants are granted these beautiful crystal feathers. For that reason, the resulting child between a fairy and a feathered creature have no chance of survival. They will not be accepted in any society in this world, and humans have never been ones to accept those who are different than them into their own. The child is doomed from the start, and their very existence will be pitiful."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kyoko asked, feeling uneasy. Somehow she felt she already knew the answer, but...

"The king of the Gettan fairies was foolishly optimistic when he pursued his queen. The people would not accept it, hushed whispers and quiet disapproval filled their kingdom for years..., and then prince Kuon was born and they would not stand for it any longer. The boy was doomed from the start. A maid within the castle... perhaps she thought he would have a better chance at survival if he did not have such wings. Barely fledgling, and they were brutally plucked, broken, scarred beyond repair-"

"Stop it!" Kyoko clasped her hands over her ears quickly, hunching away as she tried to stop the images of her imagined crystal wings being so abused and tortured. "He grew them back! He can fly freely now!" She raised her head defiantly as she glared back at him again, clinging desperately to the memory of her fairy prince as he finally smiled up at her after she released his curse. The black angel looked down at her pitifully and she felt a seed of anger sprout and coil within her. What did this guy know? A bunch of old rumors and legends? Things from maybe even thousands of years ago?

"Life is cruel and unforgiving, little lady, both in this world and yours. Survival is entirely dependent on your ability to appeal to others, and that was something Kuon struggled greatly with."

"Well then, he learned to be better!" Kyoko objected adamantly, her clenched fists quivering with rage at her sides. Blak tilted his head curiously as his charcoal eyes flit across her expression and form.

"You're quite sure of yourself."

"Of course! I saw with my own eyes, Cornn won't be held down by some curse."

"Your... a lot can happen in a few years. I don't know when you met Kuon, but it couldn't have been very recent."

"And why not? I saw him. He's alive and well, I tell you. I met him again not even a year ago, and he definitely left stronger than when he came before me." She stated proudly. Blak blinked and stared for a long moment, the angel man looking quite baffled by her claim. She felt proud at her victory, crossing her arms with a smug grin on her lips.

Finally, he attempted to shake himself out of his reverie, running a hand up through his hair to slick it back as he contemplated. He really did look a lot like her senpai.

"Blak," the soft yellow and pink feathers of Ratta crossed Kyoko's vision as she and Bernard held wrapped packages, tied securely with some kind of cord they must have had on them for some reason, "perhaps we should have her talk with mother and father? I'm not questioning your leadership," She hastily added, "I'm only suggesting that you utilize knowledge they may be able to provide." Kyoko waited and watched quietly, noting that these two were either siblings or so intimate that they called the other's parents as their own. Looking at how much they seemed to flow in their interactions, as if traveling on a same wavelength of thought, Kyoko was willing to bet it was the later. It would make more sense, considering how different their father patterns were.

Blak looked down at Kyoko with a contemplative expression for a moment before heaving a sigh and rolling his eyes.

"If she wishes to be escorted to Tellar, I will not object. If nothing else..., it would not bode well on my conscience to abandon a friend of Kuon." He turned and waved his hand dismissively and Ratta crouched down beside Kyoko with a soft smile.

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" She asked cheerfully, giving a smile that seemed to promise only good in her future. Kyoko shook her head slowly. Heights had never really been an issue for her, but... was this girl going to fly them to where they wanted to go? She wasn't entirely sure she felt comfortable with that. What if she dropped her? Kyoko shook her head again, a forceful rejection in the movement this time.

"I... I think I'll walk. Just... if you could give me instructions on how to get there?"

"That's no good." Ratta rejected quickly, looking more than a little worried, "there's been a large spike in vampire attacks lately."

"And we're getting close to their feasting hour, so we better get moving soon." Blak cut in somewhat rudely. "I don't want to leave Traisa and Don on their own for too long either." Ratta nodded her understanding and ran away, her wings spreading and flapping great gusts a couple times before she gracefully took off from the ground. Benjamin went after her and Kyoko tensed up as she looked to Blak. Did that mean she was being left behind? Or did it...? She shuffled backward on the ground like a crab when the black angel took a step toward her. He paused and looked down at her unimpressed.

"I'm not going to play games with you. If you want to stay out here an die a pitiful death, that's your decision, regardless of your relationship with Kuon." Kyoko frowned uncertainly, watching the man with a moment of curiosity. He... almost seemed to know Corn personally. Why would Corn be friends with such an unfriendly person? She gasped as she was suddenly hefted onto her feet and yanked about before being swept up off the ground. She screamed in surprise as he ran and took off without hardly even a grunt, the girl clinging tightly to his neck.

"Scream again and I'll drop you." He yelled over the loud whistle of the wind. Kyoko clenched her jaw shut as she held on tighter, burying her face in his neck to shield her a little more.

* * *

_It's a little cheesy, but some cheese is needed when linking characters to a whole new world, I think. It's also fun to get to write more about Blak (yes, his name is meant to be spelled like that) and his gang. I don't get to go super in-depth with their mechanics in my main story, even though I've worked really hard to flesh them out. I like to expend energy on useless things it seems._

_Kaname671- you asked if I will be showing glimpses of Ren and how he's taking the loss of Kyoko, and the answer is ABSOLUTELY! I wanted to show little glimpses of what was going on back home. Kyoko has worked hard to make a lot of friends and connections. They're all going to be shaken by the loss of her so it won't just be Ren, but he'll definitely be showing some strong reactions so he'll likely be the most prominent._

_Thank you for everyone that favorite, followed, and commented on my first chapter. I hope to see you in future chapters as well._


	3. How the Times Change

_Kyoko's found herself in a strange world of magic and is doing her best to find a way home. It seems that Corn is known in this world, but claimed to have left to live with humans years ago. Everyone back home is having to deal with the believed death of the young talent while she's desperately doing her best to survive in the strange and dangerous lands._

_enjoy_

* * *

Ren sat at Lory's private bar, quietly nursing his drink as the older man rolled the ice around in his own glass.

"She wouldn't want you to do this to yourself, you know." Lory spoke up softly. Ren took another sip of his drink to give him a little more time to construct a proper response.

"I told Yukihito that I'm fine. He didn't need to get you involved." He grumbled softly.

"I've been involved with watching over you from the beginning. Don't try to divert the topic, Ren." He scolded lightly back. Ren heaved a sigh as he set the half-empty glass on the counter a little roughly.

"She's gone, boss. What am I... I can't..." he set his elbows on the counter and buried his face in his hands. "I don't want to accept it." His voice strained out, soft and brittle in sound. Lory looked down and slid his glass of ice over to Ruto, the quiet man refilling it without any other prompting.

"I understand how you feel, but there's nothing we can do. Torturing yourself won't bring her back. More importantly, it won't help you move past it."

"Why should I move past it? What's the point?" Ren responded somewhat aggressively before asking a bit more quietly, "What was ever the point?" Lory gripped his glass a little more tightly, glaring down at his newly refilled drink.

"You know I don't like it when you talk like that."

"I don't care." Ren grumbled back, leaving Lory to sigh in defeat. He supposed he couldn't blame the boy for feeling that way at the moment.

* * *

Kyoko's flight in Blak's arms wasn't especially long, but it wasn't short either. She managed to get up the courage to peek her eyes open and stare down at the world rushing past. A dense forest seemed to stretch for miles, small flocks of strange birds and flying creatures occasionally slipping out over the treetops.

One of the other angels made a series of noises consisting of whoops, squeals, whistles, and clicks, and then the group fell into a different formation before following Blak as he landed again.

She was left behind with a very unhappy Bernard as the others went on ahead. Apparently she was to be watched while they took care of a threat, and Bernard was receiving a light punishment for disobeying orders and regulations.

"I failed to say it before, but thank you for saving me." She spoke softly as she graced the young boy with a deep bow. Bernard looked to her with his nose bunched for a moment before quickly looking away with a huff.

"It's in the code to help those in need and to serve those weaker than us. I was reckless, but at least I uphold the Flenco code." He shrugged it off nonchalantly, but Kyoko could see he was puffing out his chest a little with pride now. She struggled to start a conversation with the young boy again. There were a lot of questions she had, but she had no idea if the young boy knew any of the answers and she didn't want to get on his bad side before she could find out even one thing. Kids easily became annoyed when being forced to admit that they didn't know the answer to something.

"So... did you ever meet Prince Corn?" She asked hesitantly. It seemed like a fairly safe question. He would know the answer, even if that answer was a no. Bernard looked over to her with a crinkled brow, holding that expression of confusion from when they first met.

"I... never really met him. I've seen him I guess, but that was a while back and he wasn't really...," he trailed off as he looked down at the ground in contemplation, "he already didn't care to hang around much by then. I've heard a few stories about when he and brother were really little, but that's pretty much it. I don't think he would have cared to talk to me even if we were able to visit more anyway." Kyoko watched the uncertain boy with curiosity as he nudged the toe of his boot into the dirt over and over.

"Your brother knew him?" She pressed lightly. She wasn't able to make a lot of sense of what Bernard was saying, but that seemed to be somewhat implied. The boy looked back up at her, tilting his head to the side.

"Kuon was our cousin. At one point, Traisa tried to convince Blak that he was actually Kuon's twin and that he should move to live with them among the humans. She really wanted to be the next family head, but it never would have worked even if Blak did step down." Kyoko tried to process the information, quietly noting that meant that the man she had been annoying had actually been related to her old friend. She shook her head quickly.

"Wait, isn't Traisa-san that white angel? She doesn't look like she could be related to Blak at all!"

"We're all related. We're all brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws, that kind of thing. Well, there are a couple who have been adopted into the Flenco family in the past, but those are really rare and they don't take up our name unless they marry in." Kyoko sat down heavily on the ground, her mind reeling. It sounded so bizarre. Were they yakuza? A yakuza family where only family members were allowed in officially?

"What about Ratta-san? Is she married to Blak?"

"She's one of our sisters too!" Bernard exclaimed with a disgusted face. "That's just gross. We don't do that kind of thing. That's how you get mutants!" Kyoko looked at the boy and couldn't help but think of how he would be considered a mutant among humans. "Blak has the hots for some feline belino, anyway. He's always going off to watch her dance in the main city when he gets the chance. Ooh!" He made a mocking high-pitched coo as he wiggled his hips around and slid his hands up his body in a somewhat sensual manner before the boy made a disgusted gag. "I don't really get it. Felines dance so weird, all wiggly and stupid. They look like worms." Kyoko raised a hand to her mouth to hide an amused smile as she watched the young boy whine.

"How do you dance, then?" Kyoko asked, barely containing her giggles. She watched as the feathers fluffed out on his wings, expanding them slightly as he puffed out his chest proudly.

"You'll see when we get back home. I've got the moves, baby!" he claimed excitedly as he pointed at her with both hands. What a weird kid.

Their conversation was cut short as the dark angel came walking up, his wings slightly ruffled and tensed out in a way that made him look even bigger than before. Bernard quickly stood to attention, the sight a bit more interesting to Kyoko now that she knew them to be brothers. It was completely different from her dynamic when playing as the Heel siblings with Tsuraga-san. Then again, she would be quite disturbed if they had acted like that. She shook away the thought quickly as Blak looked in her direction and she shrunk back slightly.

"Get up. We're leaving now." He ordered, holding out a hand to her. Kyoko blinked at it before tentatively accepting the offer for assistance. She was just hoisted to her feet when the other three angels came walking up through the quickly darkening trees, feeling her heart and stomach jerk in surprise as the sight of fresh blood on their clothes. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure that these were people she wanted to be around. She pulled back quickly as Blak turned to her again, her heart hammering in panic. Bernard had claimed that Corn was their cousin, and somehow she felt inclined to believe him, but that didn't necessarily mean they were good people. For all she knew the fairy king might have taken his family and fled to live among humans to get away from these people.

"Why are you helping me? Why are you taking me to... wherever you're taking me?" She demanded quickly. Blak scowled at her in annoyance.

"What are you going on about? I already told you, it would not be good for my karma or conscience to leave Kuon's friend out here to die. You're clearly not equipped to be out here, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were devoured as soon as you were left alone." He drawled with a roll of his eyes. Kyoko glanced back at his companions and then to him again, her eyes flicking over his black clothes and wondering if he chose the color to hide the blood from his killings.

"What... what did you do? What... who or what did you kill?" Slowly, understanding seemed to settle in the man's expression as he straightened, looking her over quietly for a moment.

"We're hunters. Our main responsibility is controlling the population of vampires and responding to high-scale attacks from powerful creatures, to protect the weak and aid the pitiful." He stated, as if reciting some pledge. For all Kyoko knew, it might actually be their pledge or something.

"Would you like to visit the people we protect most?" Traisa offered as she stepped forward with a light push on Blak's shoulder. Kyoko quietly took note of the body language as the man complied as though being nudged by a small child. "I know this might be a bit shocking for someone who isn't used to getting out into a big dangerous world, but what we do is important. We do a lot of good by disposing of threats like rogue vampires." she explained, her cheerful expression making Kyoko feel a little easy with the splatter of blood across her front. Even so, Kyoko tried to bring herself to understand.

"So... It's like Diss and how he hunts water beasts." she surmised, glancing between the people. Traisa pulled back to look at her siblings, the group exchanging a series of looks.

"Well..., we're not exactly Mother Nature's workers..." She hedged uncertainly. "Vampires, or what eventually became vampires, were originally considered her children. It's... complicated."

"These lands have a lot of history," Blak cut in, his sister moving out of the way as she let him take charge of the situation, "and a lot of that history involves change, adapting, evolving, accepting a new course of life. For my family, that meant taking up this responsibility, diving headfirst into an eternal war." He didn't say it, but Kyoko could almost hear the implication that they didn't have a choice. "Now, are you going to cooperate with us or not. We're loosing a lot of time coddling you." he remarked. Kyoko fidgeted with her gown timidly as she nodded. She was already taken so far away from where they picked her up. She didn't even know where the river was or what direction they had been going. She could be weeks away from the fairy kingdom by now. "We don't have time to check the borders anymore. We'll head straight to Tellar and inform the family of the situation." he stated before turning to Kyoko.

She didn't put up a fight as Blak picked her up again, her arms carefully wrapping around his neck as she clung on tightly. She didn't scream when he took off this time, instead burying her face in his neck and trying to imagine she was back home, being picked up by her senpai after hurting her ankle again or something. She didn't notice when her imagination changed the arms of her senpai to the arms of her fairy prince, but it left her quietly wishing she could see him again. Was he really not in these lands? Was he really living among the humans? Then why hadn't he been able to stay with her back then? Has he wanted to leave her after all?

* * *

A trill tone sounded and Ren looked over to Lory as the older man fished his phone out of his pocket. A glance at the caller I.D. and he turned to Ren with a concerned frown, holding it up to show him. It was his father. Ren turned back away, swirling his glass before taking a deep swig of the burning liquid. Lory flipped his phone open and answered curtly, his voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.

"Hello, Kuu... yes..., yes it's true... No, we haven't found any sign of her yet..." He glanced over at Ren for a moment before diverting his gaze again. "He's... not doing so great, but he's at least not doing anything too rash." The younger man heaved a deep sigh, quietly wishing he had the energy for something 'rash'. As it was, he only had the motivation to complete his jobs and make sure his image and reputation didn't completely evaporate. Would it get easier or harder as the days went by? He had no idea. He felt a desire to just drop it all and disappear himself, but she would never forgive him if he did something like that, even after she was long gone. He stared at the ice in his glass as he wondered what would become of her spirit. Would she be born again? Would she become one with the world's energy?

Ren looked over to Lory as the man talked on the phone in a soft quiet tone. Slowly, he reached out his hand, palm up and waiting as he watched his boss trail off for a moment.

"Hey Kuu, I believe he wants to talk to you." Lory stated. Ren could hear an excited sound from the phone, a slight smile tugging at his lips as Lory passed it on to him. The older man watched anxiously, sipping away at his drink.

"Hey dad..." Kuon spoke softly, hanging his head as he resigned himself to the onslaught of emotions.

_"Kuon! How are you doing? I heard about... well... How are you taking it?"_

"I'm surviving."

_"Ah..., well that's good at least."_

"Mmm..." They trailed off into an awkward silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say. Kuon wished for the first time in a long time that he could curl up with his father and receive the comfort he so desperately needed. Strange how his father always managed to make him feel like such a kid, no matter how old he got.

_"She was an amazing girl...,"_ Kuu spoke up first, _"I was really looking forward to seeing how she developed and grew as an actress. I was so happy to see such a beautiful and purely good girl like her around you."_

"I know, dad."

_"Will there be a memorial service for her? I'd like to attend. I'd like to honor her memory in any way I can."_

"We... we haven't figured that out yet." Kuon's voice cracked slightly and he burred his face in his free hand as he propped his elbow on the bar counter. We're still look... we're still looking for her body. I don't want to believe she's really gone. It doesn't feel right. It just... it can't be right." He felt Lory's hand rest on his shoulder heavily before the older man leaned in to wrap his arm protectively around the actor, as if shielding him from the grief he felt settling over him. There was a long silence over the phone again before a soft sigh could be heard.

_"Well... unless she turned into a mermaid."_ He could tell his father was attempting a sort of lighthearted joke to ease the tension, but Kuon couldn't help the sliver of hope.

"Maybe I should go sailing and sacrifice myself to one."

_"That's not funny, Kuon."_ Kuu scolded, his voice low and barely audible.

"You started it." Ren grumbled out. He would easily give his life to allow Kyoko to return to return. It seemed so unfair. Why did the best people in the world have to be the first to fall? No, maybe this was a sign that he needed to go look for her. There still hadn't been a body, so perhaps there was still hope.

* * *

Tellar was... a strange place to Kyoko. Tall, winding, towers lined the roads with winged beings swooping in and out on elongated balconies overhead. Wherever there was stone, there was intricate graffiti and paintings showing all kinds of strange depictions that had Kyoko wondering if they were stories of the history here. Small children rushed about, giggling and weaving through the legs of adults, their clothes looking to be mostly aprons and shorts as their stubby wings and tails of feathers rustled and puffed out joyfully. Kyoko glanced over to where Blak was conversing with an older woman who was writing out something quickly on a sheet of cream-colored paper. She hadn't noticed it before, but his clothes consisted of a number of leather straps over his back to accommodate his wings. She supposed it made sense that they would have clothing specifically designed for them. She just hadn't had the chance to consider it yet.

Most of the people had similar clothing, straps holding up their garments, a lot of aprons with some pants or an occasional skirt, a couple dresses, and a _lot_ of cloaks. She noticed there were some people that didn't seem to have any wings, their clothes almost familiar and human to Kyoko, and then a group passed as they carried a long metal beam, their ears large and pointy like fuzzy cat ears had replaced their human ones, long cat tails further confirming they were a different race.

"Kuon's friend," Blak called as he set a hand on her shoulder, startling her out of her reverie, "we're moving, come on." He ordered. Kyoko glanced back one last time before trotting after him. She missed the other members of his group, but they had left her with the dark angel almost as soon as they landed in the city.

"I have a name, you know." she grumbled out as she fell into step beside the man. He glanced at her quietly and she hesitated a moment before attempting to introduce herself again, pausing and bowing deeply in greeting. "My name is Mogami Kyoko. Thank you very much for helping me in my time of need, er... Fenco-san?" She was pretty sure that was their last name, based on the conversation she had with Bernard in the forest earlier.

"No 'san', and don't call me by the family name. I know the humans from your area have formalities and such, but that's not something we waste time on here. Families are often too large and using a family name will cause confusion, while adding a formality wastes time when you need to get someone's attention quickly." Kyoko straightened, feeling a bit sheepish as she found he had stopped and turned to face her for her greeting. No doubt he also saw this as a waste of time, and she felt just a little peeved at the crudeness of it. "In any case, Blak is more of a title than a name, so even if we did, the 'san' would just be redundant, like saying 'sama-san' or something." he stated before turning and beginning to walk again. Kyoko quickly trotted to catch up, looking up at him curiously.

"Your name is a title?" she prodded curiously, gaining a nod in response from the man.

"Blak is a name specifically used in my family, typically given to the first child born with Flay's gift. Ah, Flay is our goddess, the mother of fowl, guardianship, and wind. It's believed that all birds were born from her spirit, breathed into life by her songs." Kyoko clasped her hands together as she tried to imagine such a thing. A goddess. How lovely.

"But..., how do you know if someone was born with Flay's gift? Do you test them somehow? Do they have special powers?" She asked eagerly, her eyes practically sparkling up at the man. Blak looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, the corner of his lip twitching upward ever so slightly.

"Well, Blak means 'black' or 'darkness' and is sometimes used for 'all things', though that one is a bit of an old interpretation. If a child is born with black eyes, it's considered a sign of Flay's blessing. In my family, the first to be born with this blessing is named 'Blak' and raised to be the next family head. Mothers with often give them a second name which is only used for those closer to them, usually only used by the mother and the future spouse." So there was something similar to Japan's formalities after all.

Kyoko was rolling the information around in her head when they approached one of the massive towers, this one looking to be one of the bigger ones and having a few runways that branched off and connected it to a few nearby towers. This one had not been spared the graffiti either, covered in painted murals for as far as Kyoko could see up. Ladders crawled up the sides of the tower, connecting the various balconies that speckled it's walls, and she could even see a few people using them, though it looked to be for some kind of game at the moment.

The place was practically buzzing with life as angels flew in and out and all around it almost like a hive. The main door before her was fairly large, making Kyoko wonder if it was even meant for people to walk through or not.

"Welcome to The Flenco Castle. Watch out for barreling children." he states with a flippant wave of his hand before holding out a hand for her. "The main gate is only opened for certain occasions, so you can either climb one of the ladders, or I can fly you up to one of the side entrances." He offered. Kyoko glanced between his face and his hand a few times.

"You're offering to help me?" Blak's eyebrows scrunched in confusion and she hastily tried to elaborate. "That is, I thought you would leave me here to make it on my own."

"That seems like a waste of time. It would be faster to just take you in myself, but I'm not going to force you if you don't want to." He was just starting to lower his hand when Kyoko hastily grabbed it, getting a startled look from the man.

"Please, I would greatly appreciate your help, F... B-Blak." she asked, feeling a little awkward about dropping her formalities. The man nodded his understanding and pulled her into his arms before taking off again, practically springing up to one of the lower balconies.

The smell of spices and cooking assaulted Kyoko's nose as she was set down and lead through the doorway propped open by a wooden wedge. She could hear the sound of something boiling along with chatter and laughter as she was lead through a sitting room, entering a kitchen where a beautiful woman with magnificent white wings was stirring a massive pot over a fire, pulling out her ladle to taste the stew before nodding happily and adding something in.

"Mother, why are you cooking? Where are Devin and Ranger?" Blak asked cautiously. The woman waved the question away happily as she went back to stirring with a pleased look on her face.

"Oh, they're around here somewhere. I told them I would take care of dinner." she stated happily. Kyoko watched the way Blak's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, his face clearly showing he was not happy about the situation.

"Please do not encourage them to shirk their duties. Also, you aren't allowed to make dinner." he reminded her somewhat cautiously. The woman huffed and turned around quickly with her hands on her hips, her beautiful face and long golden hair so beautiful that Kyoko's eyes glazed over with sparkles for a moment.

"And why not? Can't I make a meal for my children every now and then?"

"No, because you make it too spicy."

"Spicy!? It's not even remotely spicy!" she argued. Kyoko snapped out of her daze as the two started to squabble, the man walking over quickly and taking a taste from the pot.

"How much stuvin did you put in here? This tastes like you added spice to a spiced eel!" Kyoko looked around awkwardly as they started arguing all over again about the taste of the food, quietly looking for a way to escape unnoticed. The room had two other doors from the one she walked in, one having some older man leaning against the frame with an amused look on his face, and the other being located right past the two arguing angels. Nervously, she hedged over to the older man, her hands clenching tightly in the skirt of her gown as she bowed to him.

"E-excuse me, sir. My name is Mogami Kyoko. Could you er... maybe help me real quick?" she requested with a glance at where Blak was now throwing all kinds of things into the pot as his mother buzzed about in protest, claiming he had terrible taste buds. The man rose his eyebrows curiously at that before smiling and gesturing to the room behind him. Kyoko shuffled in with a sigh of relief, looking around only to find it to be another sitting room, but this one with a couple other angels already waiting there and looking up as Kyoko entered. One young woman was playing with a small child with stubby little fluffy wings and the other was a young boy with a book, his dark hair and eyes making him look quite similar to Blak.

"Well then, Miss Mogami, what is it you need help with?" The man asked pleasantly. Kyoko fiddled with her hands nervously as she glanced up and noticed this man also had those black eyes, worriedly wondering if she had perhaps bothered someone important without knowing.

"Er..., could you perhaps help me get in contact with Corn? I was told he's no longer in the fairy kingdom, and... he's related to the family here?"

* * *

_Look at her go, making so much progress to get back home. I hope you all enjoyed it so far. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, favorited, and followed so far._

_Kaname671- Thank you so much. I feel like I still need a lot of work, and I'm sure there are a lot of things that will be a bit lack-luster, but I'm glad that It's been enjoyable for you so far. I doubt I'll get too far into the angst with this story, so you should be okay._

_H-Nala- Blak definitely knows more than he says. It's meant to be a little bit of a sensitive topic for him and his family. I hope this chapter gave a little more insight, but don't be afraid to ask me questions or point out anything that seems overly odd._

_MetroNeko- thank you. I'll admit that most of my work is in a very different part of this world, but it will get a few little mentions here and there, hopefully not enough to actually spoil anything, though._

_Thank you for reading._


	4. New place, New Companions

_Kyoko is lost in another world, full of magic and monsters. She sets out to search for Prince Corn and the fairy kingdom, but is quickly found and picked up by a family of bird-people who act as vampire hunters. It turns out that they are related to her fairy prince, but he's been out of touch with his cousins and extended family for some time. Back on earth, Ren can't bring himself to accept Kyoko's assumed death. While Lory and the others attempt to get him to accept and mourn, Ren is continuously thinking up different ways she may have survived. If there's any chance, it must have to do with magic, so what else can he do but dive head-first back into such matters?_

_I'm not really sure if anyone cares for this series, but I decided to write it out just to keep it out of my head. This was written on my phone, so sorry in advance for any errors and autocorrects you may encounter._

_Anyway, enjoy._

* * *

"Yashiro, do you think you could clear my schedule for the next few days?" Ren asked as soon as the car was put into park. The manager whipped his head to look at his charge with shock before quickly nodding, his phone within his gloved hands in seconds.

"Of course! Actually, you can say it's practically done already. President Lory had instructed me to at least lighten your work load before, but clearing it completely shouldn't be too difficult. Take as much time as you need." He urged. Ren frowned quietly, deciding it was best not to correct the assumption that he was asking for time to mourn. The last thing he needed was Yashiro going to narc on him to Lory again.

With a soft word of thanks, Ren slipped out of the car and shut the door, doing his best not to feel too bad about the somewhat hurt look of Yashiro's face. He probably wanted to talk about it. He was the kind of person that voiced his concerns and feelings rather than bottling them up. Unfortunately, Ren was the complete opposite.

He shook his head to clear it as he opted for the stairs rather than the elevator, trudging his way up to his flat as he went over his mental checklist of things he would need to gather.

He scrounged around his apartment for anything he might be able to use. If there was any possibility of Kyoko surviving... he should go after her. He sighed as he stood at the foot of his bed, arms crossed as he glanced over the jeans, two shirts (in case she needed something to change into), a decent survival knife, some protein bars, and an emergency blanket. If he was going in water, he would like a waterproof bag, but he hadn't been able to find any online earlier with quick enough shipping. A backpack would have to do. He would need a fire starting kit, and some first aid would be preferable. He should also probably wear some lightweight shorts when he went in or something. Too much heavy fabric while searching in water would be no good.

He pulled out his phone to check the time, frowning thoughtfully as he worried over how many things that could go wrong. The first obstacle was the water itself. He could stuff things into sealable plastic bags to help combat the water, but it was far from perfect. He would need to make sure whatever first aid kit he got had a good seal as well.

Ren heaved a sigh and slipped into his bathroom for some basic cleaning supplies. If this truly did work at all, he would need to maintain body odor. He grew up with plenty of stories from his parents. Too many creatures lurked in that place, hunting and sniffing out prey with ease. With any luck, she'll have avoided the worst of that world... assuming she actually made it there. It was very likely her only chance.

He pushed away the negative thoughts. Success or fail, sink or swim, for better or worse, he was going after Kyoko.

* * *

"I don't know about Kuon, but I can get you in contact with his parents." The tall man proposed. Kyoko fidgeted under his gaze, her mind buzzing with the mere thought of contacting the King and Queen of fairies.

"I... wouldn't want to bother such important people." She mumbled out timidly before her eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion. She looked back up at the man suddenly as a thought occurred to her. "Wait, why is it that you can get me in contact with those important people, but not Kuon?" It couldn't be that something really did happen to him? Did living in the human world make him wither away?

The man hummed and tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment, but the young boy sitting nearby spoke up first.

"Kuon doesn't want to talk to any of us. He's cut ties. We're just a burden to him, an unnecessary weight." The boy snapped his book shut, huffing to blow some of his dark bangs out of his face. The older man frowned disapprovingly.

"Jade, that isn't true."

"Whatever." Kyoko blinked in surprise at the disrespect as Jade stalked off, leaving Kyoko with the man and the quiet woman with her toddler. The black-winged angel heaved soft sigh as he brushed back his hair awkwardly.

"Sorry about that. You could say Kuon is a bit of a sensitive topic, though most of the kids either understand his reasons, or they weren't old enough to really remember much of him. Jade is... just at that age I suppose." He explained. Kyoko twiddled her fingers nervously for a moment before sucking in a preparatory breath.

"Are you... their father?" She asked, pushing the words out forcefully before she could chicken out. She really hoped she hadn't bothered someone so important. She relaxed a little at the reassuring grin the man responded with, only for her body to go rigid with dread as he nodded proudly.

"In the flesh! Ah, only fouteen of them are mine, though. There are a lot of cousins and distant relatives that remain in the Flenco family, not to mention spouses." He explained cheerfully. Kyoko blanched as that number slowly sunk in. Fourteen children were his own? It was even worse than the Kotonami house! She could only imagine how Moko would react if she were to meet such a family. "And the next generation is already starting." He continued happily as he nodded to the quiet girl. She was currently trying to coax her toddler to pull his thumb out of his mouth, without much luck. Kyoko glanced at the mother and child uncertainly, feeling more and more out of place. Perhaps it was a mistake to come here, even if she had been invited.

"Dinner is ready! Rain, will you ring the dinner bell?" Came the cheerful voice of the Flenco mother in the kitchen. Blak slipped into the room, looking even more tired than when they had arrived in town and leaving Kyoko worried about what would be served for dinner as their father slipped past to the kitched. A couple seconds later, she heard the loud chime of a bell as it rang out once, twice, four times.

Dinner with the angel-people was interesting, and Kyoko was pleased to find the food wasn't _horrible_, though it certainly wasn't fine cuisine. It was edible at least. They didn't eat at a table, most of them accepting a bowl of their stew before running off to eat wherever they chose. Most of the younger children chose to eat with their legs dangling over the edge of one of the many bridges. Others chose to chat in one of the sitting rooms as they ate. She spotted Jade as she passed by in search of her own spot, the boy reading another book as he ate. She was curious as to what he could be studying so intently, but ultimately decided she didn't want to get involved with him.

"So, Mogami is it?" The golden-haired mother spoke up. Kyoko jolted and whipped her head around to face the woman, her back rigid as she anticipated being kicked out, deemed a nuisance, or any number of things. "Did I get that right?" The woman asked with a tilt of her head. Kyoko nodded quickly and the woman smiled as she clapped her hands together merrily. "Oh wonderful; I was a bit worried there for a moment. Anyways, Kest was telling me that you're a friend of Kuon's from the other world. It's a wonder that we found you before anything happened. These lands aren't as peaceful as yours, you know." She gave a little sigh as she leaned a cheek into one of her hands somewhat dramatically.

"I can send a letter to my sister and her husband, but I'm afraid I can't help you contact Kuon. He's... doing some self-searching for a bit, you know?" Kyoko nodded her head slowly despite not really understanding it very well. All she could really make out from it all was that Kuon wasn't wanting to be in contact with his family for some reason.

"In any case," the woman clapped again, her face brightening back into a cheerful smile, "you're free to stay here until we can get you all sorted out. You'll be back home in no time, so don't worry about anything and just relax for a bit." She encouraged. Kyoko stirred her stew aimlessly for a moment, unsure on her best course of action. She really didn't like the idea of staying still.

"I'd really like to make some kind of progress personally. It doesn't feel right to simply rely on you all so much."

"Don't be stupid," Blak spoke up, instantly drawing her attention, "even children know that the best thing to do when you find yourself lost, is to stay put. The more you try to find your own way, the more likely you'll miss your search party." He explained. Kyoko frowned with displeasure at his tone. It felt like he was looking down on her a lot.

"That isn't much help if I don't even have a search party coming after me." She reasoned. "How is anyone supposed to know that I'm... wherever this place is?" She waved around to try and convey her distress and uncertainty in the strange world, but the young man simply rolled his eyes, further aggravating her.

"That's why we are going to send a letter to Aunt Julie and Uncle Kuu." Kyoko's body stiffened as those names sunk in. It couldn't be... there was just no way. Unaware of Kyoko's distress, Blak went on about proper procedures when one was traveling and when faced with a lack of direction. "Of course, you should always be sure to tell someone where you're going if you know beforehand, as well as a time you plan to return, but in this case-"

"When you say... Uncle Kuu," Kyoko interrupted, the boy only seeming mildly annoyed by it, "you couldn't mean... Hizuri Kuu...?" She hedges nervously.

"But of course, dear." The woman spoke up with a giggle. "Who else would we be talking about. Oh... perhaps you're on bad terms with Kuon's parents?" She asked, a frown betraying her growing worry. Kyoko shook her head quickly.

"No! Well, I mean... I've never met his mother but... I think Fa-er... I think Hizuri-sama and I get along fairly well." She explained, growing a bit timid as she realized she was about to call the king of fairies her own father. That could have been awkward, especially in front of his own relatives.

"That's good, then." The woman stated cheerfully as she clapped her hands together. "I've been wanting to send Julie a little trinket I found a couple days ago anyway. It's been so difficult to be patient and wait for her reply." She went on to ramble. Kyoko quietly tucked into her food, finding it to truly be a bit on the spicy side, somewhat overwhelmed by its own flavors, but it was at least edible and she dutifully finished it. She had a small moment of panic as both the father and mother began insuring that she was allowed seconds, but thankfully they seemed understanding when she claimed to be more than satisfied. As soon as she had adequately turned down the offer, a whole group of the younger children jumped on the option, several of them challenging their brethren to contests. It was so much more lively than she was used to, and despite never feeling espetially lonely or dull from her past meals, somehow the noisy atmosphere here left a warm feeling all around her. It left her longing to spend time at the Kotonami house again, a strange home-sickness for a place not quite her own.

.

.

* * *

.

Ren took several steadying breaths as he stood on the beach, slipping his watch into one of his shoes and sealing them up in a plastic bag before stuffing it in his backpack with several other bagged (and double-bagged) supplies. He stared at his phone in contemplation for a moment before pulling up Lory's contact, typing out a quick message before locking, turning off the device, and placing it on a nearby bench. He would have no use for it where he was going, and it ran the risk of getting damaged anyway, so there really was no point in trying to bring it along. With a few more steadying breaths, he walked into the tide, his muscles tensing up instinctually at the chilled water as he cracked and shook a glowstick.

Up to his neck in the cold night water, he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and took a deep breath, plunging down quickly before he could have any doubts. He had no idea what he was looking for. All he knew was that water was said to hold and shift magic very well, that some of mother nature's warriors would likely be nearby any magical readings, and that there were also very dangerous creatures that would be equally attracted to such.

He resurfaced and took a deep breath before diving down again, swimming further and further out as he waved his glowstick about. Anxiety rose deep within him as the minutes ticked by. How far could she have gone? How many things could have gone wrong? She could already have become a meal to a siren or succubus for all he knew, or worse: captured by one.

Another quick gasp for air, and he went under again, his body buzzing with adrenaline and anxiety swirling and racing through his veins, itching to be released. Without his wings, he could never hope to cast actual magic again, but he could still release the magical energy within him. His breath escaped him as an idea struck, the man quickly swimming to the surface to take a new breath before going under yet again. Deeper he went, forcing the magical energy through his arms and out his hands, the glowstick seeming to shine just a little brighter, enhanced slightly as a consequence, but still nothing that could be called true magic.

After what felt like far too long, he saw something slip past in his peripheral vision, a long fishy tail with pointed fins fit for fast and precise swimming. His lungs were starting to burn for air again, but he couldn't afford to surface right after he might have found what he was searching for. Instead, he reached deep within, attempting to force out as much reserved magical energy as fast as he could. His vision swam with the effort, as if water had pierced past his goggles and directly into his eyes. Blinking past the haze, he saw glowing green eyes staring at him, a hand reaching out in offering. It was a gamble. This could easily be a malicious creatures disguising itself as a helpful spirit. He didn't have much time to decide.

Ren's body felt sluggish as he struggled to reach back, his other hand quickly clasping over his mouth to keep from attempting to inhale the water. Rough-scaled and slightly slimy, a hand grabbed his and pulled, a force pressing in from all around him, the air escaping his lungs as he failed to hold it in any longer. He could feel the water as he sucked it in, dread filling his already aching body before his head broke the surface. He hacked and coughed as his savior held him up to the surface, patiently patting his back without a word.

It looked like he was lucky, or at least for the time being. Hopefully this wasn't simply a creature that needed him alive for some corrupted deed.

"-^vv-v^" it spoke the old language, apparently.

"J-" Ren gasped for a moment, "Japanese? **English**?" He croaked, his throat and lungs burning.

"Aaaah, another one." A tenor voice spoke. Ren panted as he peeked at his savior, finding those wide green eyes staring at him curiously through long, pale-gold hair.

"Another?" He echoed weakly, gaining an eager nod from the young male, his pointed ears and the stiff hairs surrounding them exposing him as a herkan even without Ren having to check the tail. He couldn't even recall the last time he had met one; not since he was a young boy at the very least.

"Japanese girl. Dark mage. Mmm," the boy paused to think to a moment before knocking on the side of his head with one webbed hand, "head hard." Ren's eyebrows scrunched uncertainly at that. It... somewhat sounded like Kyoko, but he wasn't so sure about the 'dark mage' bit. It was true that she and Maria both had a strange fondness for such things, but could she really have an aptitude for it?

"Did she have gold eyes?" No, there were plenty of eyes like that in this world. He needed to be more specific. "Light hair? Did you catch her name?" He added quickly. The herkan's ears did a little twitch as he tilted his head, leaning in close to peer at Ren for a moment as his fishy nostrils flared. The man leaned back to gain a little space, the herkan releasing him in response before beginning to swim circles around him. It was difficult to push his muscles into keeping him afloat after all that, but he managed.

"Smell like friend. Feel like friend... Talk like friend?" The herkan paused his circles before dipping under. Ren jumped slightly as he felt rough scales slide past his feet before the he heard the sound of the water's serface breaking behind him. He turned to find to herkan observing him curiously. "Wingless? Sad, so sad."

"It's fine. I'm used to it. What about the girl? The Japanese girl you said you saw!" He urged as he reached up and yanked his swimming goggles off. It looked like he found the right place... assuming he was on the trail of the right girl. The fish-boy contemplated for a moment before giving a small shrug.

"Went to see fairies. Told her bad idea. Said she needed to find friend." Ren cursed under his breath. That definitely sounded like Kyoko.

"So she decided to look for Kuon." He grumbled, starting to swim to shore. The slim herkan followed after him, making him feel a bit uneasy. He tried to ignore the curious creature for the time being, looking up and finding the sky dim but still daylight. Was it sunrise or sunset? Directions would probably be similar to earth, as it would have the same laws of physics and the like, but he had no idea what was where, where he currently was, and deffinitely none of the constellations of this world. He hadn't visited more than a couple times after his parents had fled with him, and even then it had been when he was still fairly young and they stayed in civilized areas.

"Lost?" Ren looked back at the little herkan male, frowning as he saw a smug smirk on the boy's lips.

"Just... need to get my bearings. Is it sunrise or sunset right now?" He asked, motioning to the sky. The herkan looked up for a moment before returning his gaze to Ren, sliding further onto the sandy shore and propping his head up on his hands, his pearly white tail flipping leisurly behind him.

"Sun sets. Night soon. Fallow girl up river?" He asked before peeking up with a hopeful gleam in his mossy-green eyes. "Cook? I give fish, you cook? Yes? Yes?" Ren eyed the boy uncertainly, a sneaking suspicion whispering in his mind that this had something to do with Kyoko.

"If you're asking if I can cook as well as Mogami-san, sorry but no." The boy's ears twitched once again before giving a pout.

"Suck." Ren's eyebrow twitched before he gave the herkan a blinding smile.

"Sorry I suck, but there's nothing I can do about that. My skills lie elsewhere."

"Fighter?"

"Somewhat." He didn't look quite convinced, eyeing Ren up and down for a moment.

"Weapon?"

"I have knives, but I can use a bow if I happen upon one." A gun would be preferable, but he wouldn't be finding anything like that in this world, not unless the dragons brought them over at some point or if the residents found a way to keep them stable around the heavy magic That saturated the world, which both seemed very doubtful.

The herkan tapped its lips a few times, pondering over Ren's words before his eyes shifted and he stilled, pulling his tail close so he was curled up on soggy bank, ducking his head and looking like a pitiful kitten. Ren turned at the sound of angry rustling, finding a flurry of foliage buzzing about before settling to show a ghostly form of a young woman wearing a pale pink dress and a disapproving frown.

"What's this?" An echoey voice demanded as the ghost woman peeked around Ren to eye the herkan. The little blond curled up tighter, averting his gaze like a scolded child. Ren narrowed his eyes slightly. She used Japanese. She wanted him to hear her question. Was she testing him? Spirits were often more prideful than royalty, disapproving of those who spoke without being addressed first. On top of that, she clearly had some kind of authority over the herkan, which meant she was likely a servant of The Mother, one of higher command at that.

"First the girl, and now this?"

"I not bring girl here!" The herkan objected before shying back again. The woman raised her chin, patiently waiting for him to continue. "Water beast brought her. I just saved from drowning." Ren's eyes widened as he listened, his body stiffening as he forced himself not to turn his back on the spirit.

"And this man?" The woman urged. The herkan fiddled with the fins on the end of his tail, splashed in the water idly, thumbed at his ear and the stiff sensor hairs around them. "Diss!" The spirit barked, causing the boy to flinch back. Ren felt a bit guilty. This was his fault technically, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment.

"Was a hole, and then call, so I reach out to help. Belongs here, does he not? I... I help. I good. _[Bessa ta]_!" He claimed. The woman turned to look Ren over, her eyes narrowing as she took in his clothes and backpack, then falling back on his face.

"Magic flows through you, but you have no power. You meant to come here..., but do you belong here? I can't say."

"I was born here, but I failed to find my place here." Ren responded, somewhat relieved to be able to finally speak in turn.

The spirit woman gave a slow sigh as she threaded her hand through copper-red hair that flowed about slowly around her. Something nagged at the back of his mimd that he had heard stories of such a woman, but nothing was coming to him at the moment.

"Fine. Diss, you're to stay with him."

"Stay?" The herkan practically wailed only to snapped his mouth shut with a single scolding glance from the woman.

"You got involved in the first place, so take responsibility and see it through. Consider it a promotion."

"No want promotion! Like carefree place! ^-v_^^v_-~^!" He began blubbering in the old language again, but the woman simply waved her hand as she turned, her form seeming to disperse into the air.

The herkan let out a whimper and Ren turned, cringing and looking away quickly as he saw the boy's tail start to split down the middle, the boy shaking his head quickly as he hugged it tightly to his chest. He wished he couldn't hear the unpleasant cracking sounds of transformation, the whimpers and gasps of the young herkan clearly in some kind of pain.

He slung the backpack down and began digging through it quickly, pulling out the emergency blanket before unfurling it and draping it over the boy. Diss quickly latched onto it and curled up in it as his legs and feet finished forming, somewhat red as though they had been soaking too long in a hot bath.

Where he felt guilty before, he felt downright terrible now. Once again, he was dragging others into his messes, and they were paying the price. He needed to come after Kyoko, but now, after it was much too late, he found himself wondering if there had been a better way to have gone about it. His father and Lory hadn't seen any hope in Kyoko's survival, but perhaps they would have brought him here properly if he had asked, if no other reason than to satiate him or perhaps just in search for her body. No, instead he smuggled himself in through in unsteady portal, stirred up the ire of Mother Nature and her disciples, and caused an innocent and good-willed herkan to pay the price for his passage.

Ren sat quietly next to the boy, attempting to pat him reassuringly on the back but ultimately just feeling increadibly awkward.

"Hurts." Diss sniffled softly before slinking into Ren's lap. The man looked down awkwardly at the boy -roughly the size of a young teen- for a moment before heaving a sigh and resigning himself to comforting his new companion. This was his fault after all.

With a look up to the sky, Ren mourned his lack of progress for the day. Well, he had at least gotten here, so he supposed it wasn't a _total_ loss. The main loss was in the fact that he now had one extra mouth to feed... and possibly a new responsibility. Wait... did this mean he just adopted a kid? Ren ran a hand tiredly down his face. What had he gotten himself into?

...

* * *

_Hello people who actually read this. Having fun yet? Hope so. Ren sure isn't. Haha_

_I faintly recall someone commenting that they hoped Diss would appear again. I hadn't initially planned on him becoming a companion, but then I couldn't help but imagine Ren having to put up with the herkan's antics, and then everything just kind of fell into place when Ren arrived. I do feel a little bad for the little guy (though he's **technically** older than Ren), but i've put my characters through much worse, so... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

_I hope a couple things became a little clearer with this chapter. I try not to tell too "tell" too much in my writing, but I've been told a couple times that I need to know when I'm going into territory my readers aren't familiar with. I have difficulty finding that balance between "rambling" and "dodgy". Let me know if I did better this time?_

_On another note, I'm In the middle of furthering my education in an attempts to get a better job after gaining a higher degree, looking for a house, helping with my (super energetic omg) niece as she prepares to become a big sister, and planning around a possible vacation in a year, followed by possibly starting a family (__My wife has spreadsheets on these plans, I kid you not)._

_None of my stories have schedules due to me mostly using them as exercises for my writing, but I do enjoy writing them and ultimately aim to please my readers. I thank you all for your patience and for the occasional reminders to write more. It's very motivating and uplifting to know my words can actually matter._

_Thank you for those who have left me reviews. I really appreciate them so much. See you next chapter._


	5. Parenting and Self-discovery

_Hello readers, lovely to see you again. My water is currently off for maintenance and I'm hiding from the world on my day off, so here I am writing. I was going to work on one of my own original works but... my swordsman is being irritating, his love interest is being decidedly stubborn even though she KNOWS he isn't going to make the first move again after she outright rejected him, and... I just needed a little break from those idiots. I really want to get back into THIS world, but... there are a few things I need to sort out before that can really happen, so for now it's being used for fanfiction purposes._

_Kyoko's lost in a magical world and Ren/Kuon has gone after her. Relieved to get assurance that Kyoko truly did end up in the magic world, he teamed up with a local Herkan by the name of "Diss" to try and track her down before she's lost for good. Meanwhile, Kyoko is doing what she can to find a way home and show her thanks to those who help her. Will they manage to find each other and get home safely? Will everyone back home manage to keep themselves together until then? One can only hope._

_Enjoy_

* * *

"That idiot." Lory groaned as he scratched at his head in frustration, pausing and forcing himself to pull his hand away. His wards were going to make him go bald with all the stress and stupidity they came with. A tray entered his vision and he sighed as he accepted the mug of cider from Ruto, the silent man quietly slipping away again to give him space to think. He supposed the first course of action would be to contact Yukihito. He felt a bit sympathetic toward the manager. No doubt the poor man would be at least three times as stressed at the news. He took a sip of the cider. It wasn't making his cravings subside. "I need a smoke." He announced, pushing himself out of his chair and looking over to his assistant expectantly. Ruto gave a small sigh as he fished out a box of Lory's favored cigars.

"Even this should be taken in moderation, sir." He warned even as Lory cut the end and lit it with a flick of his finger. The quiet assistant held himself from mentioning his worry over the slight increase in drink requests he had also noticed. One thing at a time. Lory took a long drag from his cigar before slowly releasing it, quietly pleased with the small plume of smoke trailing from his lips.

"I know not to act foolishly, Ruto." He responded simply. Even with his dismissal, he knew the assistant to be right. It didn't make him feel any better, so he kept on.

He took his time blowing rings and streams of smoke into the air, watching the installed fans and filters along the walls of his room as they quickly and efficiently devoured it all. He had to admit that he somewhat missed watching it collect on the ceiling of a small room, creating an artificial fog for him to pace through, but it wouldn't be fair to his company, and there was no way such behavior would fly in human civilization, espetially in a room as large as this.

"We'll have to contact Yuki first. At the very least it'll give him a little extra time to panic before rearranging Ren's schedule even more. After that... I suppose we'll have to search for him. He's stubborn, so he won't stop once he's made up his mind. Most likely he'll end up passed out somewhere near the beach. With any luck, he'll managed to avoid any passerby before we find him. The tracker is still installed on his phone?"

"Yes sir." Ruto stated simply, gaining an approving nod from Lory.

"Good, good, we'll start with that and go from there. Perhaps we can rope in some help from the locals, if any have stayed behind after all those search parties that is." It wasn't like he didn't understand Ren's reasoning for going out to search himself, but it was far too reckless. These things happen, and magic wasn't involved nearly as often as one would expect. On top of that, magic wouldn't help Kyoko's chances. In actuality, she was just as likely to survive getting pulled under by a tide as she was a magic surge. He would even say that it would lower her chances of survival if magic was around at all.

"Grandpa? You're smoking again?" Lory quickly snuffed out his cigar as Maria came trudging into the room, rubbing her red eyes tiredly. She hardly got any sleep ever since they received news of Kyoko's disappearance, crying until her eyes were dried up, only to start again as soon as she drank any water to keep herself hydrated.

Maria crawled up into his lap, curling into a tight ball as he hugged her and pat her hair.

"Sorry, Maria, grandpa's just a bit stressed."

"Because big sister is missing?" She supplied softly. Lory gave a soft hum of admittance, quietly opting not to mention Ren's reckless decision for now. He wasn't sure she could handle such news right now. He just hoped the idiot didn't really try to follow Kyoko to the grave.

He looked over to Ruto, relieved when the other man bowed in understanding and left the room. He could get things into order as Lory consoled his grandaughter. At least _she_ could keep his habits under control a little.

.

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* * *

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Ren breathed in deep as he stirred awake, his eyebrows scrunching slightly as something felt off. There was an arm over his chest, a leg draped over one of his own, a slim body pressed against his side... and a wet spot on his hip. His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly, throwing off the emergency blanket and glaring down at the groaning boy beside him.

Diss, his new companion in his search for Kyoko, was currently wearing one of his spare shirts and his swim trunks senched as tight as they could go just to stay on his slender hips.

"It morning already?" The boy groaned unhappily, blinking drowsy green eyes through too-long blond bangs.

"It's sunrise, and you wet yourself... and my leg." Ren scolded. The boy looked up at him with a sleepily confused pout, causing the man's irritation to rise slightly. He could tell the boy didn't really understand the implications of that, but no one likes to be peed on, even by accident. He stood up and grunted in annoyance as he shirked off his jeans and trudged over to the water's edge, starting to rinse and scrub his pants and watch his leg. He could hear the boy grumbling in the old language behind him, but he didn't understand a word of it, only furthering his irritation.

"Get me my other pants out of my bag, and pack up camp. We're moving as soon as I'm done with this." He ordered, pulling his pants up to look them over before deciding he should give them one last scrub-down, just to be safe.

"Why you do that?" Diss asked as he stretched leisurly. He could at least take this more seriously.

"Because you _peed_ on me. I don't know how things work underwater, and I don't _care_ to know, but on land people don't like going around with urin on them, espetially _other peoples' _urin." He stated, jabbing a finger in Diss' direction. The herkan looked puzzled for a moment before he finally seemed to understand and looked away with a pout.

"Not worry about such things in water."

"Yeah? Well we do on land, so relieve yourself before bed next time, and you can keep those shorts. If you crap in them, you're cleaning it up yourself."

"Crap? I not crap!" The herkan objected as Ren stood back up, his drenched jeans in his hands and trickling water everywhere. Just great. They were at least somewhat clean now -or as clean as they could get without soap-but he couldn't store them like this.

"I'm only saying that you have to clean up after your own accidents. Since this is you're fault, you can carry these until they're dry." Ren stated, holding out the dripping pants. Diss eyed the clothing for a moment before looking back to Ren.

"Only till dry?" He asked with a suspicious look at the taller man, as if he had some reason to trick him or something. Ren rolled his eyes.

"Once they're dry, I can store them. Until then, they're going to have to stay out of the bag." He explained. Diss hummed before nodding twice, then making a violent hand motion downward. Ren jerked in surprise as he nearly lost his grip on the jeans, and then a pool of water fell from them in an instant, leaving perfectly dry pants.

"There, dry." Diss stated with a cocky wave of his hand. Ren frowned lightly as he looked over them. It was true that they were perfectly dry now, which saved him from any extra nuisance, but he couldn't help but feel irritated at the herkan's ability to effectively get out of any kind of inconvenience for his lack of bladder control.

With a heavy sigh, Ren set about packing up camp, making extra sure that the campfire posed no threat of reigniting once they left.

"This might have turned out fine, but you're not allowed to sleep with me again." He stated firmly. The boy pouted and gave a little huff as he looked away. Ren resigned himself as they set off. Kids really were nothing but trouble.

.

* * *

.

.

"If you're that insistent on working, I suppose you could help Nattiay." The Flenco mother hummed.

"Sure," Kyoko agreed eagerly before taking a pause. "Ah, so long as there's no need for me to get up high or fly or anything, I think I should be fine." Kyoko claimed. The woman nodded cheerfully at that.

"Oh, not to worry. Nat can't fly either since she broke her wings. She has Shodu, but that girl doesn't like feeling helpless. You know how it is." She explained cheerfully. Kyoko didn't really know 'how it is', but she nodded in agreement anyway. She really wanted to ask more about the part of someone breaking their wings, but it sounded like something that would be a sensative topic. She should probably ask the person in question if an opportunity presented itself.

Nat, as it turned out, was the woman she had seen with a toddler just yesterday. She showed Kyoko all the best routes by foot as they went about running a few errands together and Kyoko couldn't help but peek at the older woman's wings.

She hadn't noticed before when they were facing each other, but the girl's wings certainly looked worse for wear. It looked like they were now only being used to cradle and comfort the toddler she carried in a wrap on her back, the little boy happily content to run his hands over any feathers within reach. Looking closer, it didn't look like he had any wings yet.

"He's cute, isn't he? My son I mean." Nat asked. Kyoko snapped her attention to the woman and blushed as she looked down timidly.

"Sorry, it's just that I noticed he didn't have any wings." She admitted. Nat didn't seem to mind, simply giggling and waving away any concerns Kyoko may have.

"That's because we're _belino_." Kyoko frowned at the strange word and the girl startled lightly in realization. "Oh! I forgot you aren't from here, sorry. Um... 'belino' is from the old language. It means 'God's gifts' or something similar if I remember correctly. We were blessed by the gods so that we may take a peice of their power and... hmm... it... fills the holes?" Kyoko nearly stumbled over her own feet looking at the woman increadulously.

"H-holes?"

"You know, in your spirit." She stated, waving a finger around in circles in the air.

"The... spirit?" Nat looked back down at her curiously, tilting her head.

"Spirit!" The toddler whispered like a secret before laughing behind his hands. Nat smiled and reached back to pat her son, the boy quickly latching onto her hand and trying to bite it.

"I don't know much about it aside from what I've been told, but apparently the magic saturation in our word causes the spirit difficulty in forming. The gods bless us with pieces of their spirit to fill those holes, which give us our power, effect our development, and sustain us through our lives.

"On the other hand, _gesta _means 'of earth'. Those creatures are... more beastly looking, and they are born in their intirety. They're not the same as us. Technically a gesta and a belino could have a child together, but it would be steril and have no place in either community. Legends say that Death's angel was one such creature before he took her into his own household." Kyoko nodded along as she filed away the information.

"So, would a human be considered a gesta?" She asked curiously. Nat frowned uncertainly at that question.

"Normal humans from your birthplace are a bit different. They wouldn't survive very long in our world. Their souls simply cannot sustain themselves under the dense magic here. The magic energy would slowly eat away at them, driving them mad and eventually leaving them as a mindless husk driven purely by instinct. They can be transformed into any number of things depending on what beasts they run into, but their mind won't ever return once it's lost." Kyoko rung her hands in her skirt as she processed that.

"How... how do I know if my soul is getting eaten away?" She asked nervously. Nat looked over to her curiously, worry slowly forming between her eyebrows.

"You're human?"

"I mean... I thought I was." Kyoko scrambled to explain. Was it bad that she was human? Obviously loosing her soul sounded really bad, but was it bad-bad? Would it cause her to be cast out? "But um... when I first came to this world, a herkan seemed to think I was a dark mage or... ah... I guess that's still a human." Kyoko wanted to crawl into a hole and hide away, hugging herself and trying to imagine becoming as small as possible.

"Oh, well if a herkan says so, then it must be true." Kyoko blinked and looked up at Nat, finding the young woman to be smiling happily again. "They can sense all kinds of things, and it's very good to have good relations with one. Also, a mage isn't human." She giggled at Kyoko's confused expression. "Since you don't seem to know anything about it, I'm going to guess the information got lost somewhere, so it probably came from a grandparent or secret afair within the past few generations. Much more than that and it would have to be a fairly powerful mage to still be strong enough to make you considered a 'mage' by herkan standards."

"I don't know my father at all!" Kyoko exclaimed quickly as relief and excitement filled her. Net paused and stared at her with shock for a moment before her eyes shifted away with a somewhat guilty expression.

"Oh... um... sorry to... that was probably a bit insensitive of me." Kyoko quickly waved it away.

"No, no, it doesn't bother me at all. I've already been used to it for some time, and it isn't like he knew I was conceived in the first place." That only seemed to startle the young mother more, so Kyoko quickly moved on. "As long as I'm not in any danger from just being here, I'm relieved." She claimed happily. Nat looked like she wanted to object, but decided to shake away whatever it was she was thinking.

"Right, so... you're a dark mage. I guess you don't know much about them?" Kyoko shook her head in the negative and the woman hummed as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I know mages came about as a side-affect of Mother Nature granting dragons a human form, though I don't know any specifics like what caused them to be born without a dragon form. Mages age alongside humans as well, though I think you tend to live a little longer than most, like reaching your hundredth birthday or something. What else...?

"_You_ farted!" Nat's musings were cut short by a child's shout.

"_You_ farted!" Kyoko couldn't tell if that was a different voice, but the other option was that a single child was arguing by themself.

"_You_ farted!"

"_You_ farted!" They rounded a large tree and found two young girls, twins by the look of it, arguing lightheartedly with each other as they scrounged around in a big puddle of thick mud. One splat face-first into the mud before pulling themselves up, some kind of strange round disk in their hands. Several stick-like legs untucked from its underside and started wiggling about.

"_You_ farted!" The now mud-covered girl argued, holding the giant bug like it was totally normal. Kyoko felt her stomach turn with unease just at the sight.

"Why does this argument need to happen?" Nat spoke up. The twins paused as they looked over, and then identical smiles shone through mud-smeared faces.

""_You farted!"_" They cheered in unison. Nat groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Really, you two, do you have to do that when we have a guest with us?" She asked disapprovingly. Kyoko eyed the two girls uneasily, unsure what to make of them. It seemed fairly obvious that they were related to the Flenco family, but she had a little difficulty imagining these two as related to the stoic and no-nonsense Blak.

Kyoko felt conflicted between bowing or keeping her eyes on the two girls and their giant bug. Something told her that they were likely the mischievous type.

"Lest, Rye, this is... Er... was it Mo...?"

"Mogami Kyoko," Kyoko supplied before fiddling with her fingers, "but... Kyoko is fine." She felt a bit strange to be giving permission to address her so informally right off, but they didn't use honorifics in this culture. It would be far stranger if she were the only one, right?

"Kyoko, then;" Nat hummed with a small smile, "allow me to introduce my youngest sisters, Lest and Rye. You don't have to worry about which one is which. They both respond to both names, and they're rarely apart anyway. I'm pretty sure only they and maybe father can tell them apart."

"Blak can too!" The cleaner twin claimed.

"Kest! Kest!" The muddy girl holding the oversized bug cheered.

"You caaaaan't!"

"They're both Blak! You have to call him Kest!"

"This is why we're not allowed to know secrets! We don't call dad by his name, dummy!"

"_You're_ a dummy!" And so they fell back into their back-and-forth. Kyoko looked to Nat uncertainly, the young woman heaving a sigh and shaking her head pitifully.

"It doesn't look like we'll get any help from them right now. I wouldn't want them helping with the laundry in that state anyway." She bemoaned. Kyoko giggled as she nodded in agreement, quickly fallowing the older woman as they continued on.

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* * *

.

"Feet suck." Diss grumbled. "Land suck. I hate walking. Hurts." Ren paused and looked back at the boy trudging along behind him, his eyes instantly honing in on the dirty bare feet of the herkan boy. On top of him being barefoot, he probably had no callouses due to them being new feet and everything.

The man cringed slightly as he found himself realizing he might be acting a bit unfair. The herkan hadn't chosen this. Diss had only wanted to help a person in need, and now he was stuck with a heartless, wingless, useless man.

"Should we take a break?" Ren suggested. The boy instantly lit up with wide begging eyes.

"Can we? My stomach hurts too!" Ren frowned and the boy shied away slightly.

"Why didn't you say anything before? I have protein bars in my bag if you're hungry." He claimed, feeling a bit exasperated only for the boy to wave his hand in dismissal.

"Not hungry. Just land stomach stuff." Ren had no idea how to respond to that, staring back at the boy with silent confusion for a moment.

"Land... stomach stuff?" He echoed slowly before straightening. "Do you mean you have to relieve yourself?" Diss tilted his head and Ren sighed as he ran a hand down his face. Living in water and on land were apparently so different, he might as well be traveling with a three-year-old. "Do you feel a pressure here? Or here?" He clarified, placing a hand on his own body to show an example. Diss poked Ren.

"Here."

"Then you need to pee... I don't need to teach you, do I?" Diss stared at him quietly for a moment before looking down at himself and then pondering a moment longer.

"I think I can figure it out." By the gods, did Ren hope so.

He was just sitting down on a fallen tree and considering taking out some protien bars when he heard a shout, standing quickly and rushing over to Diss. He found the boy, shorts clutched in one hand, his entire lower half exposed.

"I a female!" Ren blinked once, glanced down, then looked away, scratching at his head harshly in irritation.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're not."

"I have a thing!"

"Yes, I saw." _'Unfortunately_' he added on silently before pausing, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion. "Females have penises?" It sounded stupid, but half the conversations he had with this creature sounded stupid to some degree. There were just too many differences in how they lived.

"What is a penis?" Ren wasn't usually one to slap his own forehead, but he made an exception this time. "Why you hit yourself?"

"Diss, you're not a girl." He evaded. He was not having this talk with an adult, herkan or otherwise.

"But my pouch is gone, and I have a thing!" Okay..., he didn't really know what to make of that, but apparently the boy wasn't going to let this go.

"Mother Nature's disciple gave you a human body. You are a boy. Just point it away from you and pee so we can go." He explained before trudging back to his bag. He decidedly ignored the shout of surprise fallowed by exclamations of how strange it was. "Mother, please give me patience." Ren grumbled under his breath. He couldn't tell if he was imagining it or not, but the world seemed to become just a little quieter and more calm.

It wasn't much later along the trail before Diss stopped them again, holding out his arms to block their progression as he sniffed the air and wiggled his ears.

"What are you doing?"

"I smell blood." Ren's veins felt icy in an instant. Was it Kyoko? "Mermaid." That only made him feel a little better.

"Where?"

"River." Ren held back a sassy remark of '_no shit_', instead opting to gesture for the herkan to lead the way.

They had to push through some foliage and give a wide birth to a tree filled with chittering pixie nests, but they made their way to the river, finding a small bank perfect for reaching the water. There was indeed blood staining a large section of rocks and sand.

Ren watched as Diss picked up one of the smaller rocks, sniffing at it before dumping it back with the others and looking around some more.

"Is the blood from a mermaid or..." Ren dared not even mention the possibility, a little relieved when the herkan nodded.

"Mermaid killed. Ah," he sniffed around as he seemed to catch another trail, "hunting belino." He crawled into some bushes as Ren watched the boy do his best impression of a tracking dog.

"If your nose is so good, couldn't we just follow Mogami-san's trail directly?" Ren asked. Diss poked his head out of the bushes, blinking up at him innocently.

"What you mean? Been following whole time." The boy held his hand up from between some of the leaves, showing off a fluffy brown feather the size of a large oak leaf, too big to come from a normal bird.

"Trail ends. Molting bird belino here."

"Molting?"

"Still young. Large party with."

"Flenco?" The herkan shrugged helpfully and Ren frowned worriedly. On the upside, this meant Kyoko was likely safe in a belino settlement. On the downside, it meant there were probably vampire sightings around here.

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* * *

_So, Ren is enjoying fatherhood it seems, and we got a little peek at Lory's own reaction to all this. Headaches all around!_

_Any characters seem interesting thus far? I'm always up for suggestions on how to improve them and my writing. I have a couple more people I'm eager to introduce into the story as well, so let me know your thoughts._

_Thank you for reading, and see you next chapter._


	6. Keep Moving Forward

_Kyoko was dragged down under water during an on-sight filming in the ocean. When she came to, she found she had been saved by a mystical creature in a magical world. She quickly set off with the intent to as the fairies for help, but soon found herself picked up by a hunting party of winged people. As Kyoko is adjusting to her stay with Kuon's relatives, her friends and loved ones are doing their best to deal with her supposed death. Ren finds himself unable to accept it and manages to go after her, meeting Diss and setting out in hopes of finding Kyoko and bringing her back home._

_I still do not own any 'Skip Beat' Characters._

_enjoy_

* * *

Yashiro watched as Lory stalked back and forth, the manager just a little weary. It was a great comfort that the eccentric man was usually so calm and easygoing, but it made him that much more worrying when his emotions were this chaotic.

"You're absolutely sure." Lory paused to clarify. Yashiro nodded jerkily.

"I'm afraid so, sir. The time which the locals reported someone slipping through the tear matches up too well with Ren's message. It's very unlikely that it could be anyone _but_ him." He explained. The local herkans were none too pleased with having someone force their way through said tear, espetially seeing as they had already been working on closing it back up. Now the fluctuating gate was acting up even more, forcing them to call in for extra help to get it under control again. Ren had essentially rammed straight through a fence that had been in the process of being mended.

Lory heaved a heavy sigh and Yashiro felt himself start to sweat at the sight of thin tendrils of smoke seeping from the older man's lips and nostrils.

"Sir," Ruto spoke up with a mildly warning tone, "your control is waning." Yashiro fidgeted in place, glad that he did not have to be the one to call out, but also worried about his proximity to the powerful man.

Lory huffed out a wispy ring as if to rebel a little before he straightened himself out again with a rough clearing of his throat. Yashiro was unsure if it was a good sign or not when the man began his aggressive pacing again.

"Well..., I suppose this has given us some new information. For one, there's an unofficial gate in the place where Kyoko-chan went missing." He paused and stared at the tile floor for a long moment, several expressions of conflicting emotions flitting over his face. "It... is highly likely that it is the reason her body hasn't been found. Unfortunately, it gives very little hope that she survived." There was a long stretch of silence as Yashiro and Ruto let their superior stew over his thoughts. They had already been fairly sure that Kyoko was gone, but the arrival of new information on the event... it really grounded those suspicions and twisted like a knife in their chests. "How far down did you say it was?" He asked, his eyebrows scrunched in concern as he turned to Yashiro. The bespectacled man quickly flipped to the page in his notepad with the information.

"Roughly twenty-six meters below sea level and eighty-seven meters from shore, hidden in a fairly rocky area with a surprising lack of wildlife." Yashiro reported softly. Lory walked over to the nearest seat and collapsed into a cautioned chair, running one hand over his face roughly.

"The official report given by the studio stated that she was suddenly pulled under the water's surface. She was too far from the gate for it to have pulled her in naturally." He heaved another great sigh as he burried his face fully in his hand.

"Sir?" Yashiro called out softly with concern.

"Something dragged her down. She's probably... Kyoko-chan is probably gone... for good. If whatever took her was still around, Ren is probably gone as well... what am I going to tell his parents? That woman is sure to kill me now. I can't even say I blame her this time." What was worse, Kyoko's death was likely a terrible event. Mermaids and other intelligent life wouldnt usually approach large groups like a filming production, which meant it was most likely a more primitive beast, something that saw her as nothing more than an enticing meal. He wouldn't wish drowning on most people, but getting eaten alive was far more disturbing for him to think about. And now Ren... Kuon had followed after her. He should have know better than to leave the boy to his own devices, to leave him unsupervised so soon. "What am I going to do?" Lory spoke more softly, but the question still seemed to echo off the walls and constrict around the three as they all fell silent.

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* * *

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"We not going to belino city? What about Kyoko?" Diss asked as he clung to Ren's neck. Ren sighed as he stepped over a thin fallen tree and bounced to adjust the boy to sit more comfortably on his back again. The herkan was decently heavy, especially with the backpack added on to the weight, but it was easier to carry the boy rather than going at a pace comfortable for his untrained legs and feet. It helped a little that the boy needed fairly frequent potty breaks, his body seemingly working to expel all the water-weight left from transitioning from a water animal into a land animal. Ren took each break to stretch his back and tend to his own needs, then set them right back on track. They were making some decent time. If he really pushed, they might be able to reach the Getan Fairy Capital a little after nightfall. It wasn't ideal to gamble on the hopes of reaching the city after it turned dark, but he imagined it wouldn't be much worse than getting caught out in the wild with only him and a newly grounded herkan, their only true weapons being a stick Ren had sharpened on one end and a survival knife.

"She's most likely safe as long as she's in the company of other mortals. Since she's been picked up by belinos, our priority now should be to find somewhere safe for ourselves. There's a high chance that their presence means vampires in the area, and I don't have any immunity to their infection." he explained. In the case of a single attack, his makeshift stake would be his best option. If he ran into a group..., he had less confidence in his and Diss' skills than he would like.

"You would be a powerful vampire. Probably not mindless. High chance of surviving changes." Diss tried to assure optimistically. Ren did not feel any better with that. He was aware that his fairy heritage was more compatible with vampiric transformation than most, but he had no desire to become more monstrous and unnatural than he already was, and he certainly had no desire for a longer lifespan.

"If I become a vampire, you're the first one I'm eating."

"Herkans not taste good!" Diss cried out in response. Ren snickered softly as the boy started to squirm about on his back, ranting and rambling about how vampires and herkans were part of two very different worlds and had no interest in the other whatsoever. It reminded Ren a little of his times teasing Yashiro, falling into silence as he quietly wondered how the manager was doing. He probably had a lot of work cut out for him, and Ren did feel a little bad about that, but he just couldn't bring himself to truly regret coming after Kyoko. For one, he now knew she was alive and likely being taken care of. For two, he felt he was actually making progress while staying and working in japan would have left him as an empty husk just going through the motions. No, at least this way he was working toward a goal. He felt more sure of his path. He would find Kyoko and get her back home.

"In any case," Ren started again, "we don't even know which group picked her up. There's still the possibility that it was an independent hunting party or nomads. Even if it _is_ the Flenco family, it could be one of their off-shoot groups rather than the main branch. Even if it happens to be the main branch, the time it takes to change course to Tellar would cause us to be out in the wilderness for much longer, leaving us in a lot more danger of getting hunted by vampires and beasts alike." There was just too many variables. "Continuing to the fairy kingdom gives us a higher chance of surviving and finding... an acquaintance to send word to the Flenco family and move toward finding her in the shortest amount of time."

"Acquaintance?" Diss echoed curiously. Ren remained silent for a moment, the only sound being his heavy footsteps through the forest.

"Perhaps..., though it might be more accurate to call her a lost friend."

"Lost friend? Broken friendship?"

"Yeah... someone with a broken friendship. Someone who can never forgive me after I caused her to loose everything, after I stole her future and caused the death of her lover."

"But still help?" Diss asked uncertainly. He seemed to be questioning Ren's reasoning at this point. Honestly, the man wasn't sure if he trusted the gamble himself.

"... We can only hope she deems it appropriate."

.

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* * *

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The city was lively. Kyoko sat on a bench at the edge of the main square of the castle as she watched the expansive Flenco Family dance around under the quickly darkening sky, a mixture of wind and string instruments making up most of the music as two feline belinos drummed heavily on large drums. The way the people danced was truly reminiscent of birds, large wings bristled up or fanned out as they bobbed and jumped, tapped and stomped. Bernard was in the center of it all, wings fanned out in a way to help him balance as he kept his body lowered in a nearly gravity-defying squat, all while kicking his feet out back and forth. There was something strangely familiar about that dance...

"Enjoying the party?" Kyoko looked up, finding Nattiay and a couple of her sisters as they joined Kyoko on the long bench. The celebration was apparently a way of wishing luck upon those who would be setting off on a major journey. Bernard, being one of their fastest and most talented flyers, was to set off at sunrise to deliver the Flenco Mother's letter to Kuon's parents. It seemed the family knew of a sustained gate to Earth, the human world, but it was in dragon territory. Kyoko worried over the boy and his safety, but the other bird belinos had assured her a few times already that the dragons surrounding the gate were fairly relaxed in their relations to other races, even wishing to form an alliance with them in their ongoing 'civil war-feud-divide thing'. There seemed to be some reason the Flenco's were averse to joining the war despite so much talk of the '_Dragons' Divide'_ interfering with their lives and duties fairly regularly.

"It's very fun." Kyoko claimed, watching as Bernard began doing some kind of strange dance where he jumped around in circles, wings flapping about rhythmically. "Some of the dances look kind of familiar, actually." One of the sisters, a girl with light hair and murky-green eyes clapped excitedly at that.

"Oh yes, you'll see that a lot, actually. We have our own traditions and such, obviously, but we do have various pieces of human culture we have adopted from long ago, when traversing between the two worlds was a bit more commonplace. The instruments are especially exciting!" she chirped as she started to naturally begin clapping and stomping to the beat of the music, as though her body found it difficult to stop once started.

"Instruments are okay and all," another sister, this one with black hair and grey eyes, started with a thoughtful hum, "but_ a cappella_ is more traditional for us."

"Tradition isn't everything." the green-eyed sister huffed with a cross of her arms.

"No, but it plays an important role, and its important to hold onto our original culture for certain things."

"Sure, let's just scream and squawk stupidly when there's danger rather than use organized fighting."

"You are really taking this way out of proportion."

Kyoko scooted away from the two bickering girls nervously, not wanting to get involved. She was quietly relieved when Nattiay smacked them both on the head with a stick, the two girls whining as the covered their crowns.

"You're disturbing our guest. Honestly, you two fight over this worse than a couple of dogs with a piece of meat." Kyoko released a breath and smiled back thankfully when Nattiay winked at her. Were they already becoming friends? She liked to think so, though she was still getting the hang of their culture and dynamics.

When she really considered it, life in the Flenco Castle was fairly familiar, if not a little more intimate. She wondered how much of the culture was adopted from japan, or if this world influenced humans on earth in that time 'when traversing between worlds was more commonplace'. At first glance, the communal baths they had in the castle reminded Kyoko of home, but then it also resembled how birds were drawn to bird-baths, something she had held off from mentioning out of uncertainty on how it would be received.

She sat back to watch the way the belinos mingled, noting how even dancing and celebrating seemed to be centered around community and efficiency, small groups forming to celebrate and make toasts before circulating slightly as some trickled out to do something else, others filling the space they left. It made her want to watch birds back home, to see how many similarities there might be in their behaviors.

Her eyes shifted to the two feline belino that were mixed in. That was something she had yet to truly understand. Cats and birds didn't naturally get along, did they? Even more strange, the cats seemed to be fairly reliant on the birds, practically hiding in their shadows as they kept their heads down and their limbs tense, as if perpetually anticipating a need to flee. Were they scared of the birds? Kyoko recalled the sight of Blak and his hunting party when she had first met them, the blood on their clothes and how simply they cut up a creature that looked practically human. She shivered and hugged herself, chanting in her head that they wouldn't hurt the friend of their cousin, that they were getting along with her.

"Are you okay, Kyoko?" she looked up to find Nattiay glancing over her worriedly. That look of concern..., that couldn't be fake, could it? People could act..., but it seemed so sincere. Kyoko looked down at her feet, chewing her lip slightly as she took in the sight of the shoes and clothes they had provided her on her first night, barely any questions asked past her presence in the woods. She felt horrible, doubting their good intentions, and for what? Because they were unknown to her?

"I guess... I'm just a bit homesick." Kyoko said softly. It was technically true. She really did miss home, miss her friends, her acting jobs, her landlords, her senpai... Her eyes stung but she pushed back her tears, wishing she had her Corn Stone.

She startled as she felt a weight settle across her back, soft warm feathers surrounding her as arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind. She craned her neck to get a look at who was holding her, but all she found was a plush bust wrapped in soft cloth. It was a little strange to be comforted with skin-ship by some woman she didn't know, wondering if this was also a strange norm among these people.

"If there's anything we can do to ease your homesickness, just let us know and we'll do our best to help." the black-haired sister offered, green-eyes nodding along in eager agreement. It was like their little spat over instruments or singing being better had never happened.

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* * *

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Kuu Hizuri, for the first time in a long while, did not want to eat. He felt hungry, sure, starving even, but the thought of putting actual food in his mouth was so unappealing that it make his stomach churn. The only thing his stomach seemed to deem appropriate at the moment was popsicles, ice cream, cream puffs, and any other sugar-packed confectionary he could quickly get his hands on, mostly cold things.

He was busily slurping down a syrupy popsicle when he received news of Kuon's disappearance, slumping against the kitchen counter as he stared at his phone. His heart and gut twisted and turned, as if attempting to switch places of their own accord. He felt sick, his legs growing tired enough to cause the man to want to sit right there on the floor. He heaved a sigh as he tossed his half-eaten popsicle into the sink, stumbled to the sitting room and flopped onto the nearest couch. He could feel a headache coming before his head even hit the cushions, quietly debating if he should go join his wife in the bed for some extra comfort. That would undoubtedly wake her, and then he would have to explain, and then she would fall into true despair. She may truly die of a broken heart if he wasn't careful. He wouldn't be able to stand it if he were to loose her as well. It felt like everything was falling apart around him, and he was absolutely powerless to stop it.

He couldn't bring himself to fault his son, not really. If he had truly been trying to go through the unofficial gate found there, he could have simply asked him for help getting to Lattisway. Did Kuon think he wouldn't approve? Well, he wasn't entirely sure Lory would have been accepting, and it would be a lot more difficult for him to go through the dragons' gate and territory without assistance, especially without any wings, not to mention the question of where the unofficial gate in japan waters would actually open up in the other world. The most they would able to do is get a rough perimeter, and even then it would be a lot of ground to cover. That would all be under the assumption that she was still recognizable as well. There was no end to creatures that would be more than happy to eat or capture easy prey unused to their world.

"Kuu?" Julies soft voice called from the kitchen. The man tensed up, slowly pushing himself to sit up on the couch and look over to the illuminated kitchen archway, his beautiful yet sleepy-eyed wife looking around with an uneasy and lost expression.

"I'm in here, darling." he called out, barely keeping his voice even. She turned toward him, her eyes squinting into the darkness of the living room as she seemed to barely make out his form.

"What are you doing, sitting in the dark like that?" she questioned as she came shuffling in, her willowy nightgown flowing about her in an almost etherial manner. Kuu held out his arms and helped guide her around to the front of the couch before coaxing her into his lap so he could wrap her up in his arms. "Kuu?" she called out again worriedly. She could probably already feel his disturbed mood.

"Julie..." he spoke her name softly, one hand coming up to cradle her head into his shoulder. "Julie, we need to... I have some bad news." her delicate hands gripped into his shirt as she twisted to hide her face in his neck.

"No." she whispered out in denial, already unwilling to hear what he might say.

"Julie-"

"Don't say it."

"you don't even know what I'm going to say."

"I don't need to. I know it's about Kuon. You talked this same way when he left. I don't want to hear it!" she stated firmly, her hands knotting in his shirt tightly, shaking ever so subtly. Kuu hugged her tight as he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Alright, I won't say it." he conceded. A long silence stretched between them and he felt the dampness of Julie's silent tears as they seeped through his shirt. She refused to make a sound. He knew her well enough to know that she saw her crying out to be the same as admitting loss. They would have to wait for a more thorough report from the herkan community near the tear and the events surrounding it. Best case, they would find out where it leads in Lattisway and could search for the fate of his two children, perhaps even hold a memorial. Worst case, they're left in the dark, never knowing what became of Kuon and Kyoko, having to tell the world that Tsuruga Ren committed suicide due to despair over the loss of someone he secretly held dear. They would have to reveal Ren as Kuon without his permission, without him ever reaching his goal.

"Kuu?" Julie called softly after she had gotten her bearings a bit. The man hummed softly in reply, patting her hip reassuringly as she moved to wrap her arms around his neck. "I want to visit my family." she said softly, her voice slightly muffled by his collar. He shifted to kiss her crown, holding his lips there for a long moment before resting his cheek to her hair.

"I'll make sure our schedules get cleared up as much as possible. Will you be alright to work for a few days? They might have to be packed to compensate for our leave of absence." he warned. Jullie nodded softly, not even questioning his automatic assumption that he would go with her.

"That's fine. The more packed, the easier it'll keep my mind off things until we can go."

"Is it okay if I let Lory know as well? I know you two haven't gotten along for some time, but he did care for Kuon." he reasoned. There was also the fact that the eccentric man had been Kuon's godfather, as well as his abilities and connections on both Earth and Lattisway being useful for them to pass through More comfortably.

Julie was silent for a long moment before she turned to rest her head on his shoulder, facing away instead but still holding him firmly. "I suppose that would be appropriate." she mumbled grumpily. Kuu gave a soft smile as he stroked his wife's hair.

.

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* * *

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Kyoko looked up as a large shadow sped overhead. It happened fairly often in and around a town filled with a race of winged people, but she had yet to get used to it enough to not warrant looking up to see who it was every time. She supposed that wasn't a bad thing, though, seeing as cautiousness and awareness are adamantly encouraged in this world.

"Sho-ho!" Called a white-winged woman, her deep voice carrying easily.

"Sho-ho!" Called back Nattiay as she waved down the visitor eagerly, gracelessly dumping her arm-full of lumber on the ground beside her. Kyoko was officially shadowing the flightless belino during her stay with the Flenco family. They occasionally split up for certain tasks, but most of the past couple days was spent together, chatting about their very different lives in fairly different worlds. As Nattiay greeted their newest visitor, Kyoko paused to set down her load of lumber, taking the short break to shake out her arms and stretch out some of the soreness starting to form in her muscles. There was a lot of hard labor involved with keeping up with a large family in a world with little technological advancement. The most they had was wheels and pulleys, as far as she could tell. Magic made up for just about everything else they could need, though their quality of life was a bit lacking compared to modern Japan.

Kyoko made her way over to Nat and the new arrival, taking in the long blond braids and vaguely recalling seeing her in Blak's hunting party when they first found her.

"Oh, Kyoko, you've met Traisa, right?" Nat asked cheerfully as she gestured to the taller woman. The white-winged belino gave a tiny bow of her head to show acknowledgement.

"It's good to see you acclimating well. Unfortunately, you'll both need to start heading back inside the city walls." She informed. Kyoko looked between the two women. There was a small undertone of urgency in Traisa's voice.

"Vel isn't back yet?" Nat asked worriedly, her hands clasping close to her chest as if to hold her heart steady as her battered wings ruffled in a show of agitation. On her back, her baby grew restless, forcing her to attempt to calm her nerves again. Traisa set a hand firmly on her sister's shoulder, her lips pursed into a thin line for only a moment.

"I'm sure he'll return soon. He's a smart man, so I'm sure he'll be fine. It's just that there's a great deal of movement not too far to the south. Everyone who is not currently equipped to fight is being called back into the city." Traisa informed. Nattiay reached a hand back to gently pat her son on his head.

"It might be the dragons again." Nat sighed softly, looking worried. "It would be a little strange for another big battle to break out so soon, but they have been strangely restless as of late. There's also been a rise in reports of vampire sightings as well as rumors of Ikego recruiting races closely related to the celestials, including vampires." her feathers ruffled again, the jagged and abused feathers giving a threatening look as they puffed out. Kyoko felt uneasy just from seeing the usually calm woman so disturbed.

"That's a strange change of heart." Traisa hummed, her deep grey eyes squinting at the ground as though it were what was strange. "Ikego and his companions have always carried a purist view. If I remember correctly, they ignored any creatures that had diverged from their original form, if they had at all shifted their natural form from the way Mother Nature had created them. Isn't that why they reject the very idea of mages among their ranks?" Nattiay nodded along in agreement.

"Even so, we cannot ignore such rumors. It could very well be connected to the rise in vampire attacks, and the rumors themselves seem to be fairly widespread among people we have rescued. There is a good chance that we will end up part of this war, whither we like it or not."

Another shadow passed over head, circling about a few times before a man came landing in beside them. Kyoko slapped her hands over her face as she realized his chest was bare, deeply tanned olive skin stretched over hard muscle, charcoal-black wings massive and powerful as they sent gusts of air whipping about.

"Sho-ho, Val." Traisa greeted, the man responding in a deep yet soft voice. Kyoko peeked between her fingers only to close them again when she found he hadn't covered up even after landing. At least his bottom half was covered, even if it was only a long wrapping skirt tied around his waist.

"Is... she okay?" The man's voice asked. Even without looking, Kyoko could tell he was indicating her and the fact that she was covering her eyes. Slowly, hesitantly, she lowered her hands, averting her gaze and giving a deep bow as she greeted him.

"S-sorry! My name is Kyoko. Please do not mind me!" She exclaimed. After all, the other two women seemed undisturbed by the man's attire. It was very likely a cultural thing that she shouldn't intrude upon. She was a guest in their home. She shouldn't disrupt their order.

"Okay then..." Val spoke slowly before turning to Nattiay and pulling a small paper out of a pouch strapped to his hip. "Scouts have just come in with a report of a dark dragon accompanied by an entourage of a strange mix of races. The dragon seems to be moving of its own accord, though has yet to show any ill intent or damning actions. Accompanying members appear to total at six followers, two of which are suspect to be dragon kin, at least one elf, and what appears to be a feline belino of unknown decent. Father Blak has requested we start gathering a rescue squad and stay on standby until we can determine their intentions and-or motives. End." Without another word, Traisa took off as Val tucked the report back into his pouch.

"We need to drop off Kyoko and Hoji at the castle." Nattiay informed, the man nodding along in agreement as his tail swished behind him. Kyoko paused as she realized it hadn't been made up of feathers, but hair. Was that... a horse's tail? She glanced between Nattiay and Val as they discussed the best course of action, trying to spot any subtle differences but found very few.

Val's ears were perhaps a little larger and more pointed, but that could just be different genetics for all Kyoko knew, not to mention how much different the feather patterns could be among direct siblings in this world. A similar argument could be said about his darker skin tone, as well as the hair on his arms and the color of his dark brown eyes and stiff black hair. He was certainly taller and more toned than the woman, but that could hardly be considered strange. His tail swished again and Kyoko looked to Nattiay's feathered tail, quietly deciding that seemed like the only true exposure to the difference in their races.

The man started to undo his belt and skirt and Kyoko quickly turned away, turning bright red.

"Wh-what are you getting undressed for?" she yelped out. There was silence for a moment before Nattiay spoke up.

"He has to take off his daksha if he's to shift fully into his beast form. Since my wings are crippled, I can only fly by mount." she explained in a calm voice. Kyoko slowly turned to look at them again, finding Nat with a neutral expression to hide any emotions she may be feeling. Beside her, Kyoko saw the last bits of Val's transformation settle into place, a mighty pegasus standing in his place as it panted and licked its chaps a couple times, already looking a bit tired. He looked like he had just run some big race.

"Is... is he okay?" Kyoko asked worriedly. Nattiay's neutral expression finally broke as she turned to the pegasus, running a hand gently over his mane and wings as she smiled softly, a hint of worry just barely evident in the corner of her eyes.

"Shifting isn't easy and can be quite painful, especially when it changes your anatomy this drastically. It's the main reason belino will keep certain features of their beast form even in daily life, though pride is also a factor. It isn't unusual for shifters to decide on a single form and stay that way for the rest of their lives. Pegasus have a naturally higher tolerance, allowing them to shift a little more comfortably than most, but its still an unpleasant experience and most chose to stay hidden among the masses of bird belino. It's also safer for them, as their smaller numbers made them easy targets for rivaling tribes deep in the past." The pegasus nudged her with his nose and she hugged his head lovingly. "Right, we should get going. I'll help you up. Do you have any experience riding a mount, Kyoko?" Nattiay asked as she moved to stand at Val's hip, his thick black tail swishing about nervously as he shifted his hooves in a show of restlessness. Kyoko shook her head as she approached the large mount cautiously. "That's fine. just hold onto his mane and keep you legs firmly clasped. Val and I will do most of the work to ensure you stay safe." she explained as she helped Kyoko crawl up onto the pegasus's back. "You have to sit a bit closer to his shoulders to avoid hindering his wings, so just watch out for that, okay?" she called before climbing on behind her.

As soon as everything was secured -though Kyoko felt a bit unsure about the way Nattiay straddled Val's back without much purchase- they took off. Kyoko waited until they were steady in the air before she managed to open her eyes and watched the world fly by underneath them. Quietly, she mourned the loss of the lumber she had worked so hard to recover that day. She had been looking forward to learning some survival skills with them, though it seemed things would now be far too busy for anyone to teach her anything anyway.

It was a bit unnerving, watching the runway bridge approaching them quickly as Val moved to land. Kyoko kept silently questioning its structural integrity, as well as the possibility of it not being wide enough for the pegasus to land comfortably. It was only by her forcefully reminding herself that this is part of everyday life here that she held back her screams and cries of doubt.

Nattiay helped Kyoko down quickly before carefully unstrapping Hoji from her back, the younger girl nervously accepting the infant into her arms before slipping into the main tower of the castle under Nattiay's command. Hoji seemed a bit restless, though he thankfully didn't cry. Kyoko carefully hugged him to her shoulder and bounced as she peaked out a window to watch Nat prepare Val with proper saddle and armor. Kyoko quietly wondered how often this happened. While Hoji was a little fussy, he was still reacting fairly well to everything, including being taken from his mother by a complete stranger. Kyoko wondered if handing a baby off to a someone they hardly knew was a smart move in the first place. It would be practically unheard of where she came from, but she supposed she had already stayed with them for a little bit, and they seemed to believe her friendship with Corn was grounds for a warm welcome. Would they so easily welcome anyone who claimed a friendship with the fairy prince?

She paused as she recalled the way they talked about the fairy kingdom and the apparent dismissal of the royal family there, how Corn was considered an abomination, how the exiled prince was actually their lost cousin. Her head hurt. It felt like she was trying to jam new pieces into a puzzle with pieces that had been previously forced together to somehow resemble a complete picture. Now she had to break those pieces apart and start anew. Barely anything made sense anymore.

Hoji grew fussy in her arms and she started to bounce again, patting the infant on his lower back gently and quietly realizing her eyes had grown blurry from tears.

"I just want everything to be okay." she mumbled softly.

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* * *

_I have... edited and rearranged this chapter... SO... MUCH! I had a little difficulty writing these past couple months, trying to get it all in a presentable sate. I've been told by my spouse (on a number of occasions now) that I'm very good at writing action and events, but I fall a little short when it comes to emotions. It really becomes evident to me when I'm writing these fanfictions, seeing as these stories largely tend to focus on the emotions of the characters. I hope I've been doing okay with that thus far, but it has been a struggle to write._

_I enjoy basing different races off of already existing species of animals as well as different folklore. Their human features often reflect the origins of their creature/mythology, though there are always variations and exceptions of course. The different belino races tend to be a mild mix of certain cultures based on how their animal type tend to act. Feel free to talk about different races and what you think may have inspired them. I enjoyed hearing/reading about what sticks out to different people._

_Let me know if you liked/disliked/felt conflicted/whatever anything, and I'll see you next chapter._

_Author response:_

_Kaname671- To be perfectly honest, Diss himself wasn't meant to hold any real significance here when I first started this story. He was supposed to just be a simple little herkan living a fairly carefree life, but then things happened and here we are. To answer your curiosities on herkan abilities (because this story probably won't get too in depth with it), they're actually fairly straightforward. To put it into familiar terms, they're essentially one of the first of Mother Nature's "worker bee" creatures, usually carrying out the task of guarding and maintaining order among magic, specifically magic in bodies of water. All their powers are water-based and magic regulation, though they do have immunity to most poisons. Their biggest weakness is electrical shocks, and their soft flesh (very easy to pierce). I gave a tiny mention in a previous chapter, but herkans have some very... unique anatomy. I actually based a lot of their culture off of sea-horses and sea-dragons (the reason Diss thought he turned into a female haha). Herkans were one of my favorite creatures to construct when I was growing up (probably the reason they're so simplistic being my young age when I started) so feel free to talk about Diss as much as you like. He's a brat, but also a "total sweetheart" when he wants to be._

_Zerely- thank you for reading. I hope this story continues to entertain. Sometimes it's hard to realize when I'm getting overly pushy about introducing certain characters. I really wanted to show the dynamic between Val and Nattiay in this chapter (how Val assists her so she can continue to help people rather than feeling helpless due to her lack of flight) though I feel like the emotions between them fell through the cracks a little here. :/ I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)_

_mimagfan- thank you. I actually miss this world a lot, but it feels like I've lost my grasp on it after life getting away from me for too long and my other story taking a lot of my energy and inspiration. I'm hoping writing this fic will help me get back into my roots again. Honestly, Ren could have had it so much easier if he had just waited another couple days, but love makes people do some crazy things. Kyoko and Ren's support system is intense, all of them jumping to retrieve their precious children from the crazy magic world as soon as they received word._


End file.
